Canvas Is Barnes’ Playing Field

STUDIO CITY —  More than 30 years have passed since Ernie Barnes strapped on a helmet for the Denver Broncos. But the former offensive lineman’s influence on the sporting world is stronger than ever.

Working from his Studio City home, Barnes has become internationally known for his paintings of athletes. His stylized canvases are filled with the grit of competition: rubbery and distorted figures, twists of sinew, dark faces.

“It’s an experienced point of view,” said Barnes, a big man given to cigars and wide-brimmed hats. “I know what’s involved because I have been there.”

Earlier this month, his most recent painting was unveiled as part of the NBA’s 50th anniversary celebration. Titled “The Dream Unfolds,” the work will hang in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

“It almost looks like it should be on the inside of the Sistine Chapel,” said David DeCecco, a league spokesman. “It’s almost an ascension. The way it really shows the growth of the game was what made us all excited.”

Barnes, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound guard, was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1960 but spent nearly all of his career with the San Diego Chargers and the Broncos in the American Football League. Enthralled with art since childhood, he tended to see the game in terms of visual images.

When his career ended after five seasons, he began putting these visions to canvas. Barron Hilton, then a part-owner of the Chargers, liked the work enough to commission a portrait of Hall of Fame wide receiver Lance Alworth. Jets owner Sonny Werblin arranged a New York gallery exhibit.

There were lean times during the ensuing years, but Barnes persevered.

His art grew to encompass girls skipping rope, men gossiping in barber shops and raucous nightclub crowds. These everyday scenes got national exposure as the backdrop for the closing credits of the television show “Good Times.”

In 1984, Barnes was named the official artist of the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

By the early 1990s, his list of collectors included Ethel Kennedy, Norman Lear and Bill Cosby.

Now, having finished the NBA painting, Barnes will return to scenes of common life as he prepares to mount a traveling exhibit.

But the 58-year-old painter suspects that he will not stay away from sports for too long.

“I’ll always be called back to do more things in that area,” Barnes said. “When I do sports themes, I can approach them from many levels.

“The dedication, the discipline, the attitude you have to bring. . . . I can project what it is like to be an athlete.”