KELLY FEARING (American, 1918-2011)
Back Lot Rehearsal, 1941
Oil on gesso panel
16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower right: KELLY FEARING
Artist's label verso

From the Estate of Kelly Fearing.
The ambiguous imagery of Back Lot Rehearsal (1941) springs from Kelly Fearing's early preoccupation with tumbling and gymnastics. Naturally athletic, Fearing was a life long proponent of physical fitness and healthy eating. After graduating from high school in Fairview, Arkansas, Fearing picked Northeast Center Junior College in Monroe, Louisiana, to begin his higher education. During enrollment, he inquired about the availability of gymnastics classes and whether or not he could major in the sport. Not surprisingly, he learned that no classes of this kind were offered. By his second year, Fearing had transferred to Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in Ruston, where he majored in fine art. Back Lot Rehearsal was painted in 1941, his senior year. While at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, Fearing also briefly considered becoming a professional dancer after attending inspiring performances of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In 1946, he produced The Lifters, another autobiographical work that depicted two young men working with barbells and free weights in a makeshift, basement gymnasium.