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Markus
Pierson:
bio >
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You know,
I wasn't always an artist. In fact, I was a journeyman
bookkeeper when I almost kicked the bucket back about
twelve years ago. Thankfully I didn't, and when I woke
up in the hospital I told everyone I knew that the
bookkeeper was dead after all - but in his place was a
man who was going to become a successful artist. They
thought I was nuts. I wasn't. Two years later, in June
1986, I started the Coyote Series. I was living in
Jackson Michigan, a town perennially voted the worst
place to live in America. My inspiration was a
Joni
Mitchell song "Coyote". A
friend of mine put it on a tape and I listened. At the
time I was 26, a dirt poor billboard painter living in a
tiny one room apartment. I was so poor, in fact, that I
couldn't even afford a shower curtain to serve as a
wedding present for two good friends who were getting
married in the Southwest.
I figured they might like one of my Coyote drawings so I
did a romantic one and took it there - the people at the
wedding went nuts! Well, you know how these things go -
somebody knew somebody who knew somebody in the art
business, and within a year my art was being sold in
over a hundred art galleries across the country.
That was
10 years ago. Since then I have had 32 one man
exhibitions all across the country. I have completed 327
originals, of which 319 have sold. I have created 33
different sculpture editions, and 24 print editions. The
price of my First original
was $100.00. One recently sold for $30,000. Crazy.
The
Coyotes have been collected by dozens of famous
celebrities, Captains of Industry, and Heads of State.
From Oliver Stone to Ozzie
Osborne, from
N.B.C. president Warren
Littlefield to Kevin
Costner, from the
C.E.O. of
Exxon to John
Cleese, from billionaire
Sam Zeil to Sylvester
Stallone, from
Tommie Lee to the American
Ambassador to Argentina, the coyotes do get around. They
have been featured on numerous movies and television
shows, and have been the subject of several newspaper
and magazine articles. They hang on the walls of
mansions and great villas around the world.
In the
upcoming year I will be working with the American Cancer
Society and The Organization for Tobacco Free Kids on an
anti-camel /
anti-smoking campaign in
which "Miles the Coyote" will take on
RJ Reynolds "Joe Camel" in
the Fight against the
promotion of adolescent smoking. My grandfather, a
lifelong smoker, died of emphysema. My father started
smoking at twelve but stopped about ten years ago after
being told it was a matter of life and death. It was the
hardest thing he ever did. Needless to say, kicking that
camels keester would be a
dream come true.
Many
years ago someone asked me my favorite thing about the
coyotes, and I said "They celebrate life. Sometimes life
kicks them around, but they embrace it just the same.
Heartaches, bad breaks, job problems, job triumphs, true
love, rotten luck, vast fortune. Good or bad, they
celebrate", I like that.
As for my
great fortune and success as a painter, no one is more
amazed than me. A simple twist of fate transformed my life,
and I can only thank God for the good luck and
tremendous blessings I have received.
June,
1996 was the ten year anniversary of the start of the
Coyote Series. A hard, fun, nutty decade of dogs in
suits. For any budding artists out there seeking my
advise I would simply say this: never give up, out-work
eveiyone else, and don't
be afraid to take risks. My art has improved each year
because I test my abilities every day. I hang on to the
elements I believe in and toss the rest, continually
developing and growing. In this way I feel I follow the
-paths of the greats, even if I am painting Coyotes in
suits. Your vehicle may be the Oscar
Meyer Wienermobile, it
doesn't mean your destination can't be a great one.
Warmest
Regards, Markus Pierson |
