HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD |
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HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD |
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Interview With Kenneth Hari |
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One thing that really strikes you about Kenneth Hari - the world renowned celebrity portrait artist who lives and maintains one of his four studios in Perth Amboy - is his penetrating stare. The wide-eyed Hari looks at you as though he is visualizing another subject for one of the literally hundreds of faces who have graced his canvases. He never takes his eyes off of you, even while bubbling over with anecdotes about the famous - and not-so-famous - people who have become part of his life through his art. Many of his subjects are household names from the worlds of art, comedy, fashion, law, music, science, sports, writing - you name it. Among those who have posed for Hari - who was born in Perth Amboy - are Eve Arden, Isaac Asimov, Bill Baird, James Beard, John Ciardi, Salvador Dali, R. Buckminster Fuller, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ernest Hemingway, James Earl Jones, Gene Kelly, Angela Lansbury, Hal Linden, Henry Mancini, Groucho Marx, James Michener, Dolly Parton, Dr. Linus Pauling, Minnie Pearl, Pele, Otto Preminger, Norman Rockwell, Arthur Rubinstein, Gore Vidal,Melvin Belli, Bill Blass, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Hank Williams just to name a few. Hari consented to an exclusive Beacon interview. "I don't do interviews with tabloids," he stated. "But this is a good tabloid, very local." Hari began by talking about one of his most famous subjects, actor Dustin Hoffman. "I knew Dustin quite well," he said. "I grew up in Fairfax, CA. I lived on Vista Street and he lived on Beechwood Drive. We both went to Fairfax High. He wasn't in my class though. Fairfax is part of what's know as 'West Hollywood.' His father was a cabinetmaker, I remember. "I met Dustin later in New York," Hari continued. "He called me because he never had a portrait done. He lives now in Roxbury, CT. He told me that it's the only portrait he'll ever have done. We talked about the old neighborhood, we talked about the craziness of growing up in California. It was a great reunion." From there, our attention turned to Hari's newest project: a portrait - commissioned by a sympathetic businessman - of O.J. Simpson, the football superstar now on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. "I've been to California trying to come up with different compositions," Hari said, "But I was only able to see him for a few minutes, behind glass, just to get an idea. He's got a big head and a very strong face. I know he's been getting a lot of mail. "I'm staying out of the guilty/innocent thing, but I will say that he's got a big fight on his hands," he said. "It's eerie, but I get the feeling that something's really fishy about that case. It's just a gut feeling." Closer to home, Hari was hired five years ago to restore the face of an angel that fell off the ceiling of St. John's Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, Broad Street, Perth Amboy. Now, the entire ceiling is being removed to be replaced by a new one. "The ceiling is coming down because it's unsafe, not sound," he said. "But I might be able to salvage the angel out of it. I thought it was supposed to be sound. I never thought it would come down." |
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