Poteet Victory Biography
Biography
Robert Poteet Victory brings a classic consciousness to bear on contemporary times. His landscapes and abstracts have a fresh, here and now vitality, yet they exhibit a kinship with ancient Greece and the Renaissance in their formal excellence and in their expression of fundamental concepts of life.
These paintings form a bridge that spans the kaleidoscopic present and the clear perspective of the past. Heroic yet deeply human, they exist outside time and place, as though the artist inhabited a historic period and the modern era simultaneously.
Poteet Victory himself affirms that sensation. He first became aware of it at the age of 11 upon visiting the studio of Harold Stevenson, Jr., known as “The Little Michelangelo” (Life Magazine). Stevenson, who had worked with Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol in the 1950’s and had painted in Europe in the 1960’s, became the young artist's greatest influence.
“I remember walking into the studio, smelling the turpentine, and seeing those huge figures he painted. It woke something in me. I wanted it to be the same forever. When I began seeing and painting classical figures, I really felt I was living it. It still takes me back — I’m living in a timeless place when I do it. The mystery of the thing takes over, I get an idea and then, once the pencil touches the paper, the images just emerge. I have almost nothing to do with it.”
Poteet Victory is so immersed in this process that he has no interest in prestige. He considers himself a painter rather than an Artist. He is sincere and unpretentious.
Because of this, he mixes easily with people of every social stratum, from the oil field hands with whom he once worked to famous New York artists and European royalty; he met the latter in the course of modeling for his mentor, Stevenson, for a 20 by 15 foot painting of Alexander the Great. It became a famous image in Europe, where models are personally recognized.
Poteet Victory went on to study at the Arts Students League in New York City in 1980 and 1981, then to the University of Oklahoma at Norman and Oklahoma Central State in Edmond, where he graduated in 1984. He worked at mainstream occupations in the interim, and became a full-time artist fifteen years ago when his canvases began to win awards and make their way into more and more collections in the U.S. and Europe. He added Victory to his birth name as a gesture of respect since his male ancestors (he is 3/8 Choctaw and Cherokee) had carried that title as a surname.
Robert Poteet Victory’s expansive paintings evoke a powerful response. His mirror finishes, achieved by a varnish-free process known only to him, reflect the spirit of the person standing before them. Both the painter and the viewer get lost in the glow emanating from the depth of these canvases.
Exhibits
Often there are traces of his Native American background that he is able to blend with his classical training, and he frequently combines and juxtaposes the mirror-like sections of the paintings with sand-textured portions. The end results are not only captivating in their brilliance and depth, but stunning in their design and color.
Even though Poteet Victory won't say it himself, there are few artists that have been able to combine the training of a classical academic with a completely unique and self-taught style, which has produced works of art that are unmistakably beautiful and unmistakably his.
Selected Collections
Raymond James Financial, St. Petersburg, FL; Sir Anthony Hopkins; Darrell Keith Law Firm, Ft. Worth, TX; Mark Sakautzky Interior Design, Hamburg, Germany; Almiranta Chorruca, Mallorca, Spain; Suncare Health Inc., Tallahassee, FL; Piper Industries, Orlando, FL; Horizons Health Care Corp., Hutchinson, KS; Imperbel America, Inc., Denver, CO; Milagro Computer Systems, Austin, TX; Williams, Tulsa, OK; University of Oklahoma College of Law
“The Trails of Tears”
www.trailsoftears.org
In 1838 members of more than 40 indigenous tribes including Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma Territory. This event has come to be known as the Trails of Tears — a profound nightmare caught in the dreamcatcher of history.
Poteet Victory always felt a deep connection with the Trails of Tears, particularly since his own Choctaw/Cherokee ancestors endured the long, sad journey. Growing up in Idabel, Oklahoma, Poteet longed to capture the relocation saga of his family and others through his artistic gift. Today he is fulfilling that wish by creating a "Trails of Tears" painting which will serve as a memorial to the unique culture, initial suffering, continual courage and ongoing renewal of the American Indian tribes.
In his three-panel monumental painting (15' x 60') Poteet makes no effort to show the event itself, and there are no outward representations of blood, guns or violence. Instead his vivid images use the power of symbolism, color and myth to express the agony of the past and evoke understanding of one of this nation's most significant and tragic stories.
This painting will become the centerpiece of an international tour and a multi-part education program. The project is designed to engage all ages in learning the truth of the sorrowful story of the Trails of Tears, so that the lessons of the past may help to build a more tolerant future.
Negotiations with two leading museums in Oklahoma are under way. We will bring you news of the Trails of Tears Monument's permanent home as soon as possible.
Artist’s Profile
Solo Exhibitions:
Gallery 225, Santa Fe, NM August 2006
Patricia Carlisle Gallery, Santa Fe, NM August 2001,2002, 2003,2004,2005
Primavera Gallery, Ojai, CA 2002, 2004
Oklahoma State Capitol A Native Son’s Creative Gift May 18-July 5,1998
Meyer Gallery Scottsdale, AZ. Feb 12,1998
Contemporary Southwest Gallery Santa Fe, NM August 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999
Expressions in Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM December 1994
Group Exhibitions:
Rolling Thunder: Art from the Plains Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO. Jul 17 – Sept 11, 2005
Katsina/Kachina: Tradition, Appropriation, Innovation UCLA Fowler Museum Aug 4 ‘02 Mar 23 ‘03
Ojai Valley Land Conservancy Fundraising Exhibition. Primavera Gallery, Ojai, CA Feb 10-11,2001
Reinventing the West Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT June-Sept 1999
Twenty-Eighth Annual Trail of Tears Art Show, Cherokee National Historical Society Tahlequah, OK. May 15 – June 5,1999
Faculty Exhibit, Oklahoma Arts Institute, Gardiner Art Gallery, OK. State Univ. Sept 29 - Nov 2,1998
Editorial Profiles:
Art Events Southwest Art Magazine August 2005 Victory Party
Native Arts Southwest Art Magazine October 2004
Artist Profile, Katsina: Commodified and Approriated Images of Hopi Supernatural’s UCLA Fowler Museum publication 2001 pp 168-69
A Passion for Truth in the “Trails of Tears” Focus Santa Fe Oct/Nov 1999 pp 40-43
A Native Son’s Gift (cover article) Oklahoma Today Magazine May 1998 pp 28-36
Gateways to the Spirit (cover article) Southwest Art Magazine May 1997 pp 98-105
The Spirit in Action Focus Santa Fe Magazine Aug. 1996 pp 36-39
Let the Art Speak Focus Santa Fe Magazine Jan .1995 pp 32-35
Expressions of Spirituality (cover article) The Santa Fean Magazine Nov 94 pp 19-22
Speaking Engagements:
International Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, Fountain Head Lodge, OK.
July 8,1998
Thacher School, Ojai, CA Sept 2002
Teaching Experience:
Painting workshop, Oklahoma Arts Institute, Oklahoma State University
Sept-Oct. 1998
Selected Collections:
Williams, Tulsa, OK.
Raymond James Financial, St. Petersburg, FL.
Darrell Keith Law Firm, Ft. Worth, TX
Mark Sakautzky Interior Design, Hamburg, Germany
Almiranta Chorruca, Mallorca, Spain
Suncare Health Inc. Tallahassee, FL.
Piper Industries, Orlando, FL.
Horizons Health Care Corp., Hutchinson, KS.
Mr. & Mrs. Otis Chandler, Los Angeles Times Newspaper
Milagro Computer Systems, Austin, TX.
Sir Anthony Hopkins
University of Oklahoma College of Law
Los Alamos National Bank, Santa Fe, NM
D2 Consulting, Brooklyn, MN
Schmidt Sportsworld, Essen, Germany
Watson & Barnes, Raleigh, NC
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