This is part 1 of  a special Veterans Day post featuring a painting which I commissioned from USMC Vietnam veteran, Larry “Aurence” Hancock some years ago after seeing an article about him and his paintings in my local electric cooperative monthly publication.  Even though the photos were postage stamp size, I could tell he was the real thing–an authentic folk artist.

Not trained as an artist, Aurence joined the Marines after high school with his best friend, and both were sent to Vietnam at the height of the war.  While Aurence was assigned the dangerous job of door gunner on a Huey helicopter and survived to return home to civilian life, his childhood friend did not.  Aurence came home, went to school, got a job, got married and had a family.  But years later, still troubled by sad and disturbing memories in quiet moments, he went to the local hardware store and bought some paints, brushes and canvas panels to occupy his mind.  He didn’t consider himself an artist, and never intended to show his work to anyone, certainly not hang them on the wall in his own home.  He painted mainly scenes familiar to him: people raking leaves in the fall, sailboats at the beach, Santa and the reindeer flying through the air.

Everything changed one day when an artist neighbor and friend of his wife came by, and his wife pointed out Aurence’s new hobby. He was mortified to have a professional artist see his childish doodles, but the lady looked at them carefully and asked “why do you put the same two things in each painting?”  Until that moment, he hadn’t realized what he had been doing.  Each painting, no matter the subject, contained a little white dog and fireballs in the sky.  These were clearly images from his time in Vietnam coming through into his art even without his conscious effort. He was astounded since this was supposed to be an activity that took his mind away from the memories of war.  But, Aurence decided that this was a sign that he should do a painting portraying his wartime experiences, and he did.  Shortly after this, some long time friends, a couple, came over for dinner.  Although neither Aurence or the husband had ever discussed military service, upon seeing the Vietnam painting, the husband began pouring out his emotional response and stories of his own experiences there.

Aurence’s focus as an artist changed that day, and he has devoted himself to painting for veterans like himself, to tell their stories. In terms of the art world, of which he initially didn’t think he was a part, Aurence is a folk artist, a memory painter of the primitive style similar to Grandma Moses.  His works are busy, colorful and have a childlike quality, but the subject matter is decidedly serious.  Today’s painting is difficult to photograph because the artist has used metallic paint to indicate the thousands of names inscribed on the memorial wall.  I have included several detail photos to better show some of the important areas.