Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Seems like a cold sweat creeping ‘cross my brow.

In the Heat of the Night (1967): Tibbs’ Contemplation

Watercolor on 9” x 12” watercolor paper

#7 in the 40 movies I haven’t seen from the AFI 100!

The most enjoyable so far for me from the list in a straightforward way. Like, this is the sort of movie I tend to enjoy and I’ve wanted to watch it for a while. If you’re unfamiliar with the plot, Sidney Poitier plays Tibbs, a detective from Pennsylvania traveling in the south to visit a relative, who finds himself the subject of a murder investigation simply because he’s a black man. Not only does he immediately exonerate himself but he then takes over the investigation to find the true killer.

So, yeah, there’s a ton of social issues at the heart of this but what I love about it is that they took a ‘show don’t tell’ approach to addressing them. There’s never an impassioned speech by Tibbs about the injustices of this society he’s trying to help, it’s SHOWN through the actions of everyone around him and how he in turn reacts (or chooses not to react) to the environment.

It makes the viewer put those puzzle pieces together on their own, which I feel makes it all resonate even stronger. For instance, the infamous shower scene in Psycho wouldn’t be interesting at all if it showed the actual killing, because the violence exists in the viewer’s mind. These social injustices hit harder by showing them but not calling them out, and instead leaning on Poitier’s experiences as they happen. It’s masterful.

Poitier is a full on force of nature in this, going big when necessary and smaller and more nuanced at other important times. You can see both perfectly in the famous, “They call me Mr. Tibbs” scene:

There’s a moment in the movie that caught my eye for the painting, where Tibbs is about to leave after being exonerated and pauses in the doorway, debating whether to help these people who hate him. His moral center won’t let him leave, but he does have a brief moment of debating with his instinct to get away from them. It instantly centers him in the story and silently communicates to the viewer exactly what sort of man he is. Simply excellent work by Poitier and director Norman Jewison. It’s a downright mythological moment of silence.

Next week: Meryl Streep’s incomparable performance in Sophie’s Choice.

Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Claudio Castagnoli painting.

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

The Muppet Show special is the best Muppet thing in a long time, to my taste. There’s a ton of solid jokes and it’s all so very hand-made. I’m pretty unfamiliar with host Sabrina Carpenter because I’m an old fart, so it was a delightful surprise to see her incredible chemistry with the Muppets. Like, I really want a buddy cop show where she and Ms Piggy go around solving crimes together. Like most everyone else, I hope this leads to a full series. It’d be great if producer Seth Rogen continues to get bumped every week a la Lindsey Buckingham on What’s Up With That or apparently Jon Moxley in my prints.

I’m about halfway through The Lincoln Lawyer season four and am enjoying it. I don’t know that I’d say this is a good show, but it’s very watchable. Like, there’s some solid casting in this and others that…well, they’re not my favorite flavors of ice cream. It has a very early-2000’s network show vibe to it. The arc for the season is based on Michael Connelly’s book The Law of Innocence, where Mickey Haller is pulled over and a body is found in his trunk, leading him to have to defend himself from prison. Probably my favorite of the Lincoln Lawyer books, and there’s part of the show that matches what I liked, others that are better (the female characters in the show have WAY more characterization and identity), and other bits that don’t click as well for me. And that’s okay, I’m not going into this for high art y’know?

I’ve been listening to the audiobook for Spook Street by Mick Herron while working and man, I love these Slow Horses books. Such a brilliant mix of action, intrigue, personality and the most parched of dry humor. The book, the basis for the fourth season of the show, is about one of the main characters River having to deal with his grandfather’s history, both personally and professionally as the grandfather slips into dementia. His grandfather shoots an intruder, setting off a chain of events that shake the British intelligence service. Meanwhile, River’s boss Jackson Lamb literally farts his way towards a resolution. There’s a lot less action than what’s in the show, which I like for the book, but the dry wit is even sharper and more dangerous. It’s also a tighter story because of it.

I also read Absolute Batman volume 2 by Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Marcos Martin and Clay Mann. I feel like this is successful at what the creators are trying to do: Reimagining Batman where only the names are familiar and using that to create lots of big moments. It feels like it would sit perfectly with screaming guitar solos in that way. That said, it’s unrelentingly grimdark and I feel like those big moments would have even more impact if there were some occasional levity to break up the tension. Still, it’s gorgeous and seems visually inspired by a lot of what DC artists were doing in the 80’s with panel layouts and compositions. This one’s about Batman facing down with Bane in a wholly different way that leads to the origins of a lot of familiar villains, but in a way that feels more like Akira than Batman.

Skull Week! Because skulls are cool. Also because I thought it’d be cool to try out different approaches and/or hone an approach with the same subject matter. Scratching some creative itches, kinda. I keep saying it, but there’s also something fun about art for art’s sake and not worrying about anything beyond the making of it.

Abolish and prosecute ICE.

In April at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art there’s going to be a massive exhibition spotlighting art nouveau legend Alphonse Mucha. Ahead of that there’s a smaller exhibit of a few original prints of his art and friend it’s stunning to see them in person. I stopped in before my volunteer shift on Thursday. Above is ‘The Quill’ and some detail shots I took. I’ve been studying his work for decades but have only ever seen it on a computer screen or in art books, so to finally see these in person is transformational. I’m super excited for the big exhibition in a couple months!

I’m about three months in on volunteering at the museum now and I’m getting a lot out of it. I work in the coat check area and mostly I talk to a coworker the whole time and it’s…nice. There’s some art talk but mostly it’s about cats and cooking and other stuff. Most of the employees I interact with are younger folks who just graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute and it’s lovely to hear how they each are experiencing life at this early stage as compared to me being a couple decades along.

That’s contrasted with most of the people who utilize coat check being older folks and getting to talk with them about how they experienced the museum. There was this incredible moment on Thursday where I asked a lady what her favorite thing she saw was. As she answered she pulled a hat out of her coat pocket and said, “I liked the French Impressionist paintings a lot,” as she put on a beret. I let her know that was the best way to answer that possibly and it took her a beat to realize what she’d just done. We all got a big laugh out of it.

Love you more,
Rob