About

Ted Cowart has spent his lifetime dancing with the call to be a painter.

When he was just a few years old and living in Houston his parents gave him a large chalk board and boxes of colored chalk. He used them to entertain his parents' friends with drawings of objects, people and animals.

By the time he was eight he had won innumerable prizes for his drawings and posters. It led to a scholarship to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston art classes. For the next ten years he attended the classes, working them around his regular schooling.

"During that time, I was surrounded by the classics, especially the great artists of the early 20th century," Cowart says. "Those art movements were a great influence on me."

Ted's college education began at the University of Houston and rapidly moved west to the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design. Ted was one of the youngest students ever accepted. Comparing it to the most grueling of boot camps, the college put him to the test. He emerged on fire.

With a newfound thirst for experience and adventure, Cowart thought he might have to put things on hold when it came time to do military service. But his enlistment turned into an opportunity, not only to see the timeless beauty of the old continent but to expand his artistic talents (and income) painting portraits of officers and their wives. After the service, he remained in Europe, using his art to make ends meet. He traveled until money began to run short - finally finding himself drawing flamenco dancers in a Barcelona restaurant.

With the decision made to return to the States, Cowart let a friend take his works to several agencies in New York. In a matter of weeks, Cowart had many offers. Because of its diversity of clients, he went with Hockaday Associates and soon entered the chic and fickle design world of New York City. In just a few years, Cowart was working with all the top photographers, models and designers for his clients- the "creme de la creme" of Madison and Park Avenues.

By all intents and purposes, Cowart was literally on top of the world.

But it had come with a price.

"I started missing having my own creative time - time to express just myself, on canvas in my own terms and without creative restrictions. It wasn't apparent to me right away other than knowing something was missing."

Around 1974, an offer had come from Neiman Marcus to take on a project in Dallas, Texas. The chance to return to his home state as well as work for the most famous retail store in Texas could not be passed up. At the end of the project, he made the decision to return to live in Houston. His advertising business thrived in Texas, keeping him dashing between Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami.

"Then one day I picked up a paint brush and started painting again. And one more time, I felt this void fill. I felt I was suddenly working on something that was not finished.”

He began painting prolifically. New styles emerged. Old styles were revised. He bought a second home in Palm Springs and there had his first solo show. Dozens of shows, galleries and international collections later, Cowart had found his passion and lives it to this day.

Readying for new shows, meeting with writers, photographers and collectors - there are many things that pull him from his painting, but these days Cowart refuses to put his brushes down as he did in his past. He sets aside time each day to confine himself to his rooftop studio and let himself go in a world of color, memories, visions and emotion.

Most of his works are of subjects that have special meaning in his life or in his memories, though the admirer should not waste too much time trying to figure out that connection. It is simply the means by which the artist has drawn himself into his subject and released an array of emotions to which viewers are drawn.

CowartArt@gmail.com
Instagram: @tedcowartfineart