![]() “You have to follow the laws of physics, perspective, the way the light shines, the way it reflects, and colors and things, especially with painting airplanes. “When you work with realism, you have to hit everything just right,” explained Durr. Perhaps da Vinci wasn’t completely off, as Durr said the realism in his work can be quite challenging-considering his audience. “I know it probably sounds a little weird, but I always thought da Vinci was cool, because he not only painted, but was into engineering and science as well,” he said. While many artists are inspired by the works of masters such as Rembrandt and Monet, Durr said he is most inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. “I just really like the richness of the pigment and the fact it lasts so long. “I really prefer the prestige of oils,” he explained. “When they tell me how happy they are, it just really brightens my day,” he said.ĭurr prefers to work in oil. Guys will send me pictures of their wives or girlfriends and I’ll put them in a pinup girl pose, as if it were on the nose of a vintage airplane.”ĭurr said the best part about the job is not painting the beautiful women it’s actually getting calls from the customer when they receive the piece. Well, I call it ‘nose art,’ but it’s really a panel made out of aluminum with rivets. “I now have eight limited editions prints for sale,” he noted. When he’s not flying, Durr, who is married and has two children, heads up Alex Durr Productions, a fine art showcase for his work that he founded in 1992. He currently works for them as a Super 80 copilot, based in Dallas.Ī couple beside a 1932 Ford Victoria watches as two Gee Bees en route to the National Air Races, held during the 1930s in Cleveland, Ohio, fly along the NYC Twentieth Century Limited. Durr eventually landed at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside of Washington, D.C., in 1992.Īfter his tour of duty there was complete, he left the military and was hired by American Airlines as a commercial pilot. As Durr began to explore the new possibilities for his craft, his military career carried him around the globe, including a tour in the Pacific. Had I been properly exposed to more of that in high school, I think I probably would have just gone straight to New York City after graduation.”īut things happen for a reason. We also had some traveling shows that came though, but I really had no clue as to what was going on. “I didn’t find out about what was going on in fine art until I was in college-and through magazines like Art in America. “If it wasn’t for my lazy high school art teacher, I think I would have found this out a lot earlier,” he said. Although he was already well schooled in the subject, Durr said that was the moment he felt his “true” interest in art finally clicked. There, Durr mused at the paintings he saw, strolling through the works of such greats as Robert Grant Smith, regarded by many as the American master. “It wasn’t until I was going though flight school back in 1984 down in Pensacola and visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation that I saw there really was such a thing as a bona fide aviation artist.” “I’ve always kind of been like a closet aviation artist,” confessed Durr. Although he was now airborne, he still felt something was missing. There, he trained as a fighter pilot, flying the F-4 Phantom and the F-18 Hornet. “Before I really got serious about it, I took a one-hour lesson at a nearby airport and was satisfied that flying was something I could live with.”ĭurr graduated with a fine arts degree in studio art from Florida State University and promptly entered the Marine Corps. “I knew I wanted to go into the military after school and the flying part seemed pretty neat,” he explained. On the other hand, Durr wasn’t opposed to the idea. ![]() ![]() “But I don’t know if there really was any defining moment that made me think it was my destiny to become a pilot.” “My mom always said that every time an airplane would fly over, I would sit and stare and watch,” said Durr from his home in Fort Worth, Texas. While it would be many years before he would be able to understand the significance of that moment, Durr just knew that he was pleased with his work.īorn and reared in sunny Miami, Durr always had an interest in aviation, but admits it’s more a love for the machine than of flying itself, despite the fact he’s both an accomplished Marine aviator and commercial pilot. When 10-year-old Alex Durr won a fifth-grade art contest, his reward was the opportunity to draw whatever he wanted. A flight of two F-86 Sabres buzz a 1957 Chevy Belair along Route 66.
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