Note Type
Antony Hayton, Exhibit DirectorNote
Al "Blood" Black (1947 - )
River Scene in Tangerine and Green
Oil on Upson Board circa 1972
Image size 24" X 36"
Alfred Hair recruited Al Black to sell Highwaymen paintings; he had been selling typewriters; he would become a legend for his sales abilities. He sold for some of the other artists, too. Mary Ann Carroll said of him, The only paintings he didn't sell were the ones you didn't give him." He had an innate ability to sweet-talk customers and sold them a painting even when they knew they were being sweet-talked and charmed. Selling Highwaymen art was his gift, and he was in large part responsible for why the Highwaymen were able to paint and sell so many paintings during those magical years of the 60s and 70s, those years when Alfred Hair's Florida Art Factory was churning out paintings, thousands upon thousands upon thousands. His gift would become a gift to Florida and America today, as he was responsible for selling so many paintings in those magical years that are now available and affordable for us today.
Al "Blood" Black still paints every day, and if you visit him, he will do his damn best to sell you a painting. He is the most active of the artists left painting today. Characteristically, his paintings always include three birds in flight, representing the Holy Trinity, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. A common element of Highwaymen paintings is the use of a "reverse C" on one side of the painting; it helped frame that side of the painting, and perhaps more importantly, it was a quick and easy way to fill a large part of the work with the subject matter. Black did not paint until after Alfred Hair's murder in 1970. Now, he works his sales charm on customers buying his paintings. As Mary Ann Carroll said about his sales skills, Al Black could "sell a mosquito an overcoat in the summer." As far as Al "Blood" Black was concerned," a painting was not finished until it was sold."