Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Muhammed Ali



A portrait collage I completed of Muhammed Ali. In this charcoal drawing, I drew it on an 11x14 sheet of charcoal paper. The background was darkened with a light coat of charcoal stick, and then I went over that layer with acrylic paint. I faded the charcoal into the acrylic to really try and heighten the sense of what's going on. I didn't want each drawing connecting, so I decided to fade them in. Ali's first fight was with Sonny Liston, and for their rematch, he knocked Liston to the canvas and stood over him, shouting for him to get up. The photographer, Neil Leifer, who snapped this photograph probably had no idea how famous the photograph would be. I decided to recreate this photograph at the bottom of the drawing, and complete the top with his last notable fight with George Foreman. Prints are available on a high gloss paper for $20.00, so just email me at johnpriceart@gmail.com if you'd like to purchase one..