While researching old news footage of the shark attacks that occurred after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, made famous by Quint’s ominous telling of the tale in the movie “Jaws,” artist Jonathan Morrill stumbled across the legend of Old Hitler.
He was so enthralled by Florida’s favorite fishtale, that he knew he had to use the semi-mythical hammerhead shark as a subject for his art.
” I find edification in painting portraits of unusual subjects,” Morrill said. “As I began to embark on creating paintings for an exhibit in St. Petersburg, Florida,the subject of this legendary hammerhead seemed to be another perfect entry for my show.”
The exhibit, “St. Pete: The Twilight Burg” opened to general acclaim on June 1st, 2019, at Mickey’s Cafe, 318 Central Avenue, in downtown St. Petersburg. The acrylic painting of “Old Hitler” was presented, along with twenty other original pieces, and had sold out by June 5th, with all of the works remaining on display through June 30th, 2019.
Sharks also played a role in another of Morrill’s recent works. In 2017, his painting “Friggin’ In The Riggin” was displayed in a show at The Tonga Hut in North Hollywood as part the 70th anniversary tribute to the famous Kon Tiki Expedition of 1947, headed by Thor Heyerdahl.
During the famed 100-day expedition, the crew endured many challenges,
and exciting adventures, including an encounter with a whale shark, tidal waves, wrangling great white sharks, and various forces of nature,
which wreaked havoc on the balsa wood raft, and tested the crew’s will.
“Here in this painting, all of these events are happening simultaneously,
and are being set in motion with the help of the Polynesian God of Wind;
Tawhirimatea,” he explained.
For more information about Jonathan Morrill’s art, please check out https://pixels.com/profiles/jonathan-morrill.html
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