Striking resemblance

It happens every spring and not a moment too soon. Phillies pitchers and catchers report Feb. 19 and, according to writer Tom Boswell, that’s the day the world starts all over again.

Fans eager for a sneak preview of baseball — or at least baseball-related art that will adorn Citizens Bank Park — can check out the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

"Art at Home Plate: Philadelphia Legends on Canvas" features some 32 works by Dick Perez, the official Phillies and Hall of Fame artist, and runs through Feb. 29. The work depicts Philadelphia baseball history from the 1880s through the 1980s divided into three categories: Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia native sons — players from Philly who excelled with other teams.

The exhibition is prefaced with a watercolor of two baseball players painted by Thomas Eakins in 1871. As Eakins wrote to a friend, "The moment is just after the batter has taken his bat, before the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand."

The Phillies gave Perez a formidable chore. Many of the portraits he was asked to create were of players who were never photographed. Perez has had to use context, brilliantly saturated colors and form abstraction to convey energy, motion and action. The proof that he succeeded is the baseball emotions his canvases awaken and the fact that one can almost hear the crowd roar.

Perez was born in Puerto Rico and from early days wanted to be a baseball player. By his mid-teens, he realized his strengths were with the brush, not the bat. He moved to Philadelphia in 1958 and attended what is now the University of the Arts and the University of Pennsylvania.

His work is as historically correct as he can make it, down to authentic advertising on the outfield fences. He is also known for other sports paintings, all done in a figurative style. He admits to being representational, "but I am interested in being a human camera, recording what lies in front of me without bringing something to the work through my intuition, perspective and creative urge."

"I work in oils, watercolors, gouache, acrylics and a variety of line techniques. I work primarily from photos since most of the subjects I paint are deceased or are unable to sit for me. Another reason I must work from photos is that the people I paint are best know for their past achievements and should be immortalized at the age of the athletic accomplishments," Perez says.

Perez is not the only artist whose works will grace Citizens Bank Park. Others include Zeno Frudakis, Max Mason, Dane Tilghman, Jonathan Mandell and Joe Brown.

Frudakis, a Glenside sculptor, will complete four monumental statues of Mike Schmidt, Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton and Richie Ashburn. Mason is executing two large murals for the restaurant, Tilghman is doing murals for the Diamond Club and Mandell is creating two large mosaics for the entrance lobbies. Brown sculpted the statues that curved around Veterans Stadium, all of which will be moved to the ballpark.

This weekend as part of the Perez exhibition, the Academy will host a family event, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!" On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the museum will host all four current artists, leading interactive hour-long workshops on mural creation, the sculpting process, painting and a slide show on mosaics. Families will be able to create their own art, enjoy the Phillies Phanatic, model clay, contribute to a mural, take tours of the show, and create their own baseball card.

A small show of baseball memorabilia will be available and Len Epstein, illustrator of the Phanatic books, will teach folks how to draw the Phanatic in cartoon style.

The Phillies have made an extraordinary commitment toward art at the Citizens Bank Park and beyond. The team will contribute to the maintenance and promotion of the bronze Negro League Memorial sculpture by Phil Sumpter that will be located in Fairmount Park.

David Montgomery, the Phillies president, has stated, "We believe this art program is interesting, enhances the fan experience and complements our state-of-the-art ballpark. We wanted a variety of styles and media created by a diverse group of artists from the Philadelphia area. We feel that we have achieved that goal."

Art at Home Plate: Philadelphia Legends on Canvas
Through Feb. 29
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
118 N. Broad St.
215-972-7600
$8 adults; $7 seniors and students; $5 for 18-under; free for 5-under and members

Edward Higgins, in addition to being an art critic, bats right, throws right and has the knees of an aging catcher.