Boy Dreamer - Ecke, Paul

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Résumé :
The year is 1957. Four-year-old Paul Ecke sits timidly at a foreign kitchen table, eating the first inferior meal of many in a foster home. Longing for his beloved mother, he sees her only on short weekend visits that grow more infrequent over time, as she tries unsuccessfully to hide a nervous breakdown, along with yet another growing pregnancy. Struggling to endure the strict rules of the house and the coldness of his foster parents, Paul begins to live in his creative mind where everything is possible and the grandest of dreams take flight. But after his family reunites, the adults he relies on both crumble and harm, as improprieties occur and secrets are slowly revealed that add more layers to the complexity of a visibly sensitive boy's view of the world. Despite-or perhaps because of-the emotional angst, complicated sexual identity issues, and deep loss he experiences, Paul cultivates a profound gift of creative genius. Vibrant with candor and resonant with details of coming of age in '60s and '70s California, as well as of bravely thriving for a decade with cancer, Boy Dreamer is a moving and ultimately triumphant story of a man who discovers his truth and courageously lives it, in a life brimming with love, art, gratitude, and beauty.

Biographie:
PAUL ECKE, is a former educator for ten years in the public school system. He has been a professional artist for over four decades. Paul is an American painter, sculptor and author/illustrator. His paintings are mixed media on canvas and panel. His work is represented throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. His artworks are an amalgam of color, texture, and movement achieved through application and deconstruction of oil, acrylic paints and found objects to canvas and panel, all applied by brush, hand, and trowel. The results are colorful thought-and emotion-provoking images that convey the inner strength, conviction, and complexity of the artist.After pursuing a career teaching art in the California public school system, he headed the Centralia School District's art program. Ecke enjoyed his ten years as an educator, but longed to pursue a full-time career in the creation of his own art.Ecke has been a full-time contributor to the contemporary art world since 1985. His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Manila, Philippines, CECUT Museum, Baja Mexico, and the Daytona, Florida's Museum of Arts and Science, as well as The Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA. He is represented and has shown in galleries in New York, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atalanta, San Diego, Palm Springs, Florida, Canada, the Philippines, and Indonesia. His works are in many private and corporate collections, including those of Universal Studios, George Lucas's private collection, Jimmy Z Sportswear, Taco Bell, Flojet Corporation, Carsey Warner Productions, and Dionne Warwick's collection. Works by Paul Ecke are already slated to be part of an endowment of contemporary paintings and graphic art to the Tate Museum of Contemporary Art in London. He has been the featured artist in numerous publications, including: Los Angeles Times, Art In America, International Fine Art Collector Magazine, Space Magazine, Luxe magazine, and California Homes and Lifestyles. Paul lives in Southern California, USA.He was educated at California State University, Fullerton, receiving degrees in art with an emphasis in ceramic arts and painting....

Sommaire:
The year is 1957. Four-year-old Paul Ecke sits timidly at a foreign kitchen table, eating the first inferior meal of many in a foster home. Longing for his beloved mother, he sees her only on short weekend visits that grow more infrequent over time, as she tries unsuccessfully to hide a nervous breakdown, along with yet another growing pregnancy. Struggling to endure the strict rules of the house and the coldness of his foster parents, Paul begins to live in his creative mind where everything is possible and the grandest of dreams take flight. But after his family reunites, the adults he relies on both crumble and harm, as improprieties occur and secrets are slowly revealed that add more layers to the complexity of a visibly sensitive boy's view of the world. Despite-or perhaps because of-the emotional angst, complicated sexual identity issues, and deep loss he experiences, Paul cultivates a profound gift of creative genius. Vibrant with candor and resonant with details of coming of age in '60s and '70s California, as well as of bravely thriving for a decade with cancer, Boy Dreamer is a moving and ultimately triumphant story of a man who discovers his truth and courageously lives it, in a life brimming with love, art, gratitude, and beauty....