© Charley Harper...Science Art-Birds
Title: Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)
Artist: Charley Harper
Image size: 18 1/2 x 13"
Media: Published in the Ford Times
"Julie Leibach, in the January-February 2008 issue of Audubon magazine, wrote about Charley Harper and Todd Oldham’s book, Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. She summed up his minimalist approach: “a depiction of a cardinal with a tear-shaped body or an owl with moon-sized eyes might seem more like a cartoon than a mirror image. But by distilling a bird to a collection of seemingly simple shapes and colors, Harper successfully captures its purest essence.” Oldham, who worked with Harper for five years on the 700-image, 420-page, 12-pound book, put it this way, "Charley’s inspired yet accurate color sense is undeniable, and when combined with the precision he exacts on rendering only the most important details, one is always left with a sense of awe."
About his lasting appeal, Harper was characteristically low key, “I’m 84 years old,” … “and because of (Oldham) and my son Brett, this is the most active time in my career.”*
For Charley Harper, less was more. He continued showing us how true this can be until he passed away last June.
*<http://blogs.citybeat.com/ae/2007/06/remembering_cha.html>
