Jungle Jim = Fine Art

|Thoughts Racing (Wade Productions)|
Photo by Susan Wade
Photo by Susan Wade

By Susan Wade

Here’s one wall Jungle Jim Liberman might not have gotten hung on.

In a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at Richmond, the following artwork was especially attention-grabbing . . . for a number of reasons. It’s a piece the late Nicholas Krushenick did in 1969, and it’s titled “Jungle Jim Lieberman” (sic).

The artist described racing with this colorful, comic-book-style offering that has been on display at an art museum at Richmond, Va. (Photo by Susan Wade)
The artist described racing with this colorful, comic-book-style offering that has been on display at an art museum at Richmond, Va. (Photo by Susan Wade)

Unfortunately, the artist misspelled Liberman’s name, and the interpretive narration of the painting identified Liberman as a stock-car racer. Oh well.

But who knew “the excitement of the races” ever would be depicted by comic-tinged “tensions among shapes, patterns, and colors”?

And who knew drag-racing inspirations would be considered fine art?