October 27 – November 25

Opening Reception: 6 – 9pm, Oct 27

Featuring a series of large drawings inspired by and using imagery from the 1943 young adult novella The Little Prince, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The drawings depict the Little Prince’s planet accompanied by poetical annotations in English, French, and Spanish. Also on view, a series of small allegorical gouache and oil paintings illustrating The Little Prince expressly made for this exhibition.

DeLoss McGraw is an American artist known for his whimsical gouache paintings. Inspired by his own poetry as well as poems by W.D. Snodgrass, McGraw’s dreamlike works are often reminiscent of paintings by Paul Klee. Klee, like McGraw, was inspired by the works of folk artists and children. Born in 1945 in Okemah, OK, he went on study at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1973. McGraw lives and works between Los Angeles, CA and Okemah, OK. Today, his works are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Cranbrook Museum of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., among others.

“Fifty years ago a dear friend raved about a small book, “The Little Prince.”  I put up with her talk but thought little of the book.  Then  twenty-five years ago a collector, who changed my life because of his support of my paintings, suggested I consider working with the text from “The Little Prince.” Again, his idea brushed my thought but nothing more.  A couple of years ago I was breezing through a Dallas used bookstore when I saw Antoine de Saint Exupery’s  “The Little Prince” on sale for fifty cents.  “Why not,” I thought. So I purchased it, read it, enjoyed it.  A couple of weeks later I was in the middle of painting some rather large paper works – I had completed several but I had been stuck with a painting problem, on one painting, for several days.  I am a Christian Scientist and I phoned a Christian Science practitioner for support in prayer on another problem but within five minutes, after my phone call, I completed the painting and my first “Little Prince” painting was finished, and then I painted fifty more.

This exhibition is dedicated to my parents, DeLoss L. and Stephanie McGraw, who encouraged my study of art. They were Palos Verdes residents in the 1960s and early ’70s. I hope you enjoy the work.”   – DeLoss McGraw