Artist: Markus PiersonTitle: Coyote Portrait of RiveraMedium: Serigraph on PaperOrientation: verticalImage Size: 10 x 11.5 inchesPaper Size: 17 x 18 inchesEdition Size: 175: Hand-deckled edges, Signed by the artist, individually numbered, accompanied by certificate of authenticity signed by the publisher.Excerpts from his book, But I Digress, A Coyote's View of Art History * * DIEGO RIVERA * * Don't get a vegetarian chef to run your steakhouse's kitchen, and don't hire an atheist to interpret your Bible, and don't hire a Communist to paint a mural about the joys of Capitalism. A certain Mr. Rockefeller skipped that third rule when he hired Diego Rivera to paint a mural in the foyer of Thirty Rock (30 Rockefeller Center, NYC). Uh oh. Many coats of gesso and a litany of cuss words later, the Rivera mural is gone, with a proper pro-industry image replacing it (which, incidentally, is an image I adore . . . it is the single coolest thing in all of Manhattan). Lump it, Diego. * * He wasn't handsome. His bulging eyes looked in two directions, he was obese, had bad skin, and his hair was a mess. No matter, the gals dug him, and he was a sex machine. Richard Roundtree's Shaft character is actually Diego Rivera with a car and a gun. Okay, I'm stretching, but I'm right on the mark when I say Diego Rivera was easily as socially successful as Paul Gauguin. Gauguin, as we know, caught syphilis; Diego Rivera had cancer of the, um, winkle. Some might see instruction in this information, others not. I'm not touching it. * * What a lovely painter. He knew his people, Mexicans toiling humbly, working quietly and diligently. He loved them, and that love comes through so eloquently in his canvases. He saw these workers as heroic, regardless of their task, saw the work they do carrying flowers or tooling machines just as important as the work of any law-making bureaucrat or corporate CEO. Almost makes me want to turn Marxist and I would, if not for currently having a job as the CEO of my own corporation. * * Diego was married to Frida Kahlo, whom I'll tell you about next. He put her in some of his murals, depicting her handing out guns and knives to the Revolutionaries. How sweet. Diego, unlike, say, those wimpy Impressionists, was not into nicey-nicey stuff. He would have just as soon pistol-whipped Renoir as look at him. Rivera wanted his art to tell a tale, to send a message, to cause a revolution, to unite the workers and overthrow the man! Fight the power! Lenin lives! Trotsky's a putz! Murals rule! Government for the muralist, by the muralist! A muralist in every pot! We have nothing to paint but paint itself! * * It's just not right that I make fun this way, but you know, paintings don't overthrow governments any more than dancers win fights. It only happens in the movies. That fact, however, does in no way alter the beauty, the importance, the power, or the artistic splendor of the paintings and murals of Diego Rivera. * Biography * * Markus Pierson was born in 1961 and raised in the small farming town of Grand Ledge, Michigan, where his father owned a popular restaurant. A self-proclaimed reckless "racer", Markus was the youngest and most challenging of the four Pierson children. * * While a student, an encouraging art teacher swung wide the door to Markus' talent and profoundly moved him. However, the Grand Ledge art scene was somewhat lacking, leading Markus to take on a number of odd jobs before accidentally stumbling upon accounting as a means to making a living. After a near-fatal bout with Crohn's Disease in early 1985, he declared that the accountant was "dead" and in his place was a man pursuing his dream of becoming a successful artist. * * The Coyote Series was born in June of 1986, after Markus heard the Joni Mitchell song, "Coyote." He loved it, played it often and memorized the words. The focus of the song, a guy referred to as "Coyote," is a reckless, footloose Casanova type fellow - Pierson aspired to be the carefree romancer described in those lyrics. Then he did something he'd never done before or since: Markus made a drawing of a song. * * Over the next six months Markus painted billboards by day for a living and drew his Coyotes into the night. To the wall above his desk he taped these words, "No one works this hard and this smart - and has it come to nothing." Within a year, he walked out of Artexpo in New York City with commitments from 110 art galleries who sought to represent his work. * * In the decades that followed, Pierson's work has evolved to include a vast array of paintings, drawings, sculpture, hand-pulled serigraphs and original found-object works. Over time, the metaphor of the Coyote has taken on a more poignant and profound purpose. At its essence, the work urges us to pursue our dreams, wear our hearts on our sleeves, and to celebrate all of life's ups and downs. He has had nearly one hundred solo exhibitions in galleries across America, Australia and New Zealand, while also being featured at various prestigious international fairs including Art Miami, Artexpo New York, Sofa Chicago, Chicago Contemporary & Classic, and palmbeach3. Markus has amassed a collector base which includes Heads of State, major corporations and celebrities worldwide. * * Markus' wife and muse is artist, Sheryl Pierson. The two live and work in a converted loft in Kansas City, Missouri. * * "There's no doubt in my mind that my success has more to do with luck than talent, more to do with stubbornness than vision, more to do with ignorance than insight, but the fact remains that I pursued my dream and attained it against staggering odds. I say this now to anyone who will listen: even if I had failed, it would have been worth it. Better to face a brutal truth than to grow old wondering what might have been. " Markus Pierson *