Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
Back in 2010, as a celebration of Jerry Rice’s recent Hall of Fame induction, a veritable Who’s Who of living Canton enshrinees gathered at a convention in San Jose. Adam Port was selected as the honorary official artist who would document the elite pantheon for a limited-edition series of prints. Proudly presented here is the giant, 60” x 30” original painting featuring 33 individual portraits of the following legends: Tom Mack, Lee Roy Selmon, Don Shula, Charlie Sanders, Marcus Allen, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, Dick Butkus, Bob St. Clair, Dave Wilcox, Len Dawson, Gale Sayers, Joe Montana, Jim Brown, Steve Young, Mel Renfro, Bob Lilly, Y.A. Tittle, Steve Largent, Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, Ronnie Lott, Dan Fouts, Mike Singletary, Dave Casper, Jimmy Johnson, Dan Hampton, George Blanda, Warren Moon, Jack Ham, Jim Otto, Hugh McElhenny and Fred Biletnikoff. The sheer scope of time and energy that went into every stage of Port’s ambitious vision—from compositional design to the penciled under-drawing to the colorful final depiction—can hardly be overstated. Each figure is immediately recognizable by his respective spot-on facial likeness, not to mention by the iconic poses, uniforms and helmets. Port describes this undertaking as a “once-in-a-lifetime creation” and explains his concept this way: “I set out to give the most popular HOFers the largest and centralized positions, but it all came down to how the layout worked as a whole. Incorporating this many subjects became a jigsaw puzzle. I went through a dozen or so sketches before I finally established a well-balanced, aesthetically pleasing composition.” Numerous behind-the-scenes progress shots of Port’s painstaking process can be viewed on our website.
Bio: Heir-apparent to the great modern masters of photorealist portraiture, Adam Port reigns as one of the nation's premier sports and entertainment artists, with a clientele that has included influential entities like the NBA, Basketball Hall of Fame and Elvis Presley Enterprises, along with A-list stars like Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony and Ray Lewis. A graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts, Port has perfected his trademark technique of using acrylic paint and colored pencil on illustration board to create breathtakingly life-like portraits.