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ABOUT BOOTH MALONE
 ward
winning
equestrian
artist
Booth
Malone
remembers
the
parting
advice
of his
old boss
at
Coca-Cola,
then
President
Donald
Keough:
"Do one
thing;
do it
the best
you can,
and
market
the hell
out of
it!"
"I took
that to
heart
and
concentrated
on
horses
and put
my best
into
each
painting.
The
marketing
I've
left up
to
word-of-mouth
which,
in our
small
world of
horses,
has been
more
than
enough."
Receiving
his B.A. with a
Visual Design major,
Booth worked for The
Coca-Cola Company |
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Study of
"Lord
Astor's
Horses"
by Munnings
2008 (NFS) |
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in
Atlanta.
His
positions
there
afforded
him a
unique
opportunity
to
travel
extensively
and he
used his
spare
time to
broaden
his art
education.
Seeing
some of
the
finest
collections
in the
world
infused
him with
the
desire
to be an
artist
himself:
"Regional
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museums
were my first
real exposure to
Remington and
Russell --they
didn't exactly
receive a lot of
coverage in 'Art
History 101' and
I was completely
captivated by
[Remington's]
use of light and
Russell's
narrative
compositions.
I also
saw
Russell's
studio
in
Montana
and his
earliest
works --
which
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"The best sporting artists have an eye not only for detail, but for the telling detail - the nuance of gesture, of motion, of light and gear which reflects an insider's grasp of the outdoor world. |
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were
quite raw -- and
discovered he
developed his talent
as an adult. So it
was an encouragement
to me. To Start!" In
a portent of things
to come
his first
professional
painting was an
equestrian portrait
of a friend
from work. "It was a
small painting and
rough, and a small
check, but I got
more pleasure from
that than from all
the salary I
received from Coke
-- I never looked
back!"
Booth studied
the techniques of
portraitist John
Singer Sargent and
equestrian artist
Sir Alfred Munnings.
"They're really twin
souls. If Sargent
had gone outside
more he would have
painted like
Munnings and vice
versa. They
were both known for
bravura brushwork
but I also noticed
they went for
nuances and subtle
gestures and that
appealed to me --
good paintings
should be more than
photographic
accuracy." He
says he also picks
up ideas from the
great illustrators
like N.C. Wyeth,
Rockwell and
Leyendecker. |
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Moving to Columbus,
GA in the mid
1980's, "I was lucky
early on to fall in with the
Midland (GA) Fox
Hounds when Ben Hardaway was Master,
and through them I
was exposed to
Olympic level
Eventing, and high
caliber
steeplechasing and
polo. My wife, when
we first met, worked
in bloodstock and
her knowledge of
racing and its
players, on both
sides of the
Atlantic proved to
be a tremendous
resource." |
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