Perry Milou

Perry Milou's conception of art and beauty is as unique as the painter himself. His singular, one-of-a-kind works--whatever the format, theme, subject matter or technique applied--are always accessible, often visionary and evoke instantaneous feelings for those fortunate enough to view them. Like many other painters in history, this has taken a lifetime to accomplish. What is astounding in this case is that this lifetime has encompassed a scant 33 years.

The personable, model-handsome Milou began his career as a painter and his life-long passion for it at the age of five. As he tells the story, it all started in the first grade, when he and his classmates were asked to create a mural on a gigantic sheet of brown craft paper. Young Milou, crayons in hand, started drawing and startled everyone in sight by creating something truly extraordinary for an artist of any age. Naturally, he was asked to draw the rest of the mural by himself, which you might say was his first "commission." While it was indeed obvious that he had a rare gift, what Perry Milou remembers most about that experience is that at that exact moment, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. And boy, has he done it.

His visions and his passions were seemingly always individual ones, even in his days as a graphic arts major at the University of Arizona, where he was the first student in the college's history to virtually create his own major. And he continues to go his own way, creating what he calls a "hybrid" style that draws on the influence of just about every artist that evoked a feeling in him. Those wide-ranging influences include the classic European style of Van Gogh, the romanticism of Degas and Botticelli, his first hero, Peter Max; the pop art of Andy Warhol and many, many others. Perry Milou will be the first to tell you that he can and does paint in just about every style, but what comes out--be it a romantic summer scene, portrait of a sports hero, rendering of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean or Frank Sinatra--is totally and absolutely Perry Milou.

Perhaps one of the reasons that his paintings are so accessible is that he remains a "people's artist," literally and figuratively. He doesn't shut himself away in a studio, rather, often chooses to work in the center of Philadelphia's renowned Rittenhouse Square, on the trendy stretch of Miami's South Beach, or amidst the inspiring environs of Sicily. Milou aptly describes this as a "open gallery," and the excitement and energy he generates by painting for the people and among the people is simply boundless. And this includes people of all ages, which led to a fondly remembered stint as founder and creator of the "American Milou Studio For Children," where he taught thousands of young, would-be and could-be PerryMilou's.

As enjoyable as that was, an artist with Perry Milou's passion must paint and must create. Over the years, his "populist" creations have been on view in the Jacob Javits Center by way of the 1995 New York Art Exposition, commissions from the Philadelphia Opera Company, Philadelphia's City Hall, the 2000 Republican National Convention and a wonderful collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where his Van Gogh representations during their Van Gogh exhibit were reproduced on tee-shirts, puzzles and note cards. His five, limited-edition lithographs now on the market have sold in the thousands.

His latest creations-in-progress are destined to be legendary. They are larger-than-life paintings of two Philadelphia sports teams and the larger-than-life heroes who made them legendary: The Philadelphia Eagles' Norm Van Brocklin, Ron Jaworski, Donovan McNabb and Randall Cunningham; and The Philadelphia 76ers Allen Iverson, Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley and Julius Erving. Milou is also one of the very few painters working anywhere who believes in the collaborative process. Philadelphia artist Charles Cushing and Milou take a huge canvas and literally paint on it together, and they've done it publicly, on the streets of center city Philadelphia, Boston, New York and will do it shortly in Philadelphia's famed Manayunk section.

Even the artist himself couldn't tell you exactly what his style is, and it's quite probable that Perry Milou never really wants to have an "exact" style. "I'm a painter," he says. "Call it a hybrid of fine art and commercial imagery, but I paint what I see and I seize what I paint."

Perry Milou's artistic life has been devoted to the creation of beauty and the creation of feelings since he first "took crayon to paper bag" 28 years ago. In a recent two-page, full-color spread in The Greater Delaware Valley's influential Philadelphia Style magazine, writer Charyn Pfeuffer said of Milou: "His style is a pop impressionist frenzy of Seurat, Van Gogh, and Warhol in rich colors and airily decorative designs. It's difficult to deny a person success when they possess a genuine sense of determination, confidence, experimentation and true talent."

And the goal of this certifiably, "true talent?" To reach everyone who sees, and above all, everyone who feels. Beauty, Milou believes, should be for everyone. -- Dr. Bruce H. Klauber