A very hard sell

Lolita Harper

His paintings depict luxurious structures with striking architectural

slopes adorned with precious gold.

But he lives out of a late-model yellow sedan.

His scrapbook contains dozens of invitations to prestigious art

panel discussions.

But today, polished patrons avoid the scruffy man as he wanders

through a popular furniture store.

Once an acclaimed artist, 80-year-old E. Dewey Turner must now

confront his fall from grace as he tries to sell his masterpieces

just to put food on the table.

His 18-piece rectangular composite mural of the “City of Venice,”

and various other works, are on display at River’s Edge at 1661

Superior Ave. in Costa Mesa, part of an attempt to garner an income

for the starving artist.

River’s Edge co-owner Ken Edwards has agreed to let Turner

showcase his pieces at the rustic furniture shop and displayed the

lighted “City of Venice” masterpiece across the back wall of the

shop.

“See how good it looks with the light on it,” Turner said while

taking his filtered cigar out of his mouth and exhaling. “It took me

four months to paint that. It comes apart physically. Go on, go over

and look.”

Turner, wearing a red snowflake sweater over a bright floral

shirt, a fisherman’s cap, jeans and sandals, stood back to admire the

mural.

“I painted that from January of 1961 to April,” he said. “And then

I created the grid work to hold it up. Run your hands under there.

Feel that? That is where it is screwed into the blocks.”

The massive oil painting shows many separate views of Venice in

small rectangular paintings, which come together like a tour of the

historic city that was once a center of world trade and commerce.

Turner is hoping the painting will signify economic prosperity for

him. He is finally willing to part with it to make ends meet.

The man admits he is better with a paintbrush than a pen and

prefers canvas to a checkbook. His wildly creative impulses are not a

good fit for the strictly regimented lifestyle required to live off

of Social Security.

“We just want to help him get some income so he can get out of

that car and into a home,” Edwards said.

Edwards met Turner about a year ago when the elderly man wandered

into the shop while waiting for his car’s air conditioning to be

fixed. He walked into the quaint shop and immediately started

critiquing all the art work. Turner told Edwards he would be back,

and sure enough, his frequent visits sparked an unconventional

friendship.

“I thought he was just charming,” Edwards said.

Although Turner blew cigar smoke around the store and commented

loudly about the paintings and various knickknacks, he found a

confidant in Edwards and began to tell him stories of his decorated

past.

He told tales of fabulous art exhibits and grandiose masterpieces.

He talked of wonderful parties and guest lecture series. Edwards

always listened and nodded, too polite to question the validity of

the stories.

When Turner began to cart in paintings, Edwards realized the true

talent of the boisterous man. The white-haired gentleman brought in a

self-portrait painted by candlelight at midnight. The painting

depicted a handsome young man with dark brown hair and serious brown

eyes.

“I looked at the painting and thought, ‘Oh wow, he really is an

artist,’” Edwards said.

The trips increased in frequency, as did the proof of his acclaim.

Article after article in Turner’s scrapbook documented his various

speaking engagements, gallery exhibitions and other accomplishments.

One clipping spoke nothing of his canvases, instead focusing on

Turner as a key member of the California Liberty Amendment Committee.

Reporter William Graff, of Freedom magazine, wrote of Turner in

1964, “for sheer guts and doggedness, he couldn’t be equaled.”

His doggedness is still unparalleled. Edwards finds it a constant

struggle to get Turner to come to terms with his present, instead of

reveling in the lore of the past. Turner wants to sell his paintings

for millions and scoffs at Edwards’ suggestions to lower the prices.

Turner reminds Edwards he was a distinguished artist. Those

paintings are his limbs, his soul, and they cannot be so easily

dismissed. Edwards understands his pride, but pleads with the man to

compromise before he loses too much.

The artist’s health has been failing. He was recently hospitalized

with pneumonia. Since being evicted from his trailer park, Turner has

had little luck finding a place he can afford. He moved his

possessions to his car and unpacks them on the lucky nights he can

afford a motel.

The Lighthouse Church recently sponsored him a week at a local

motel.

Edwards said the main goal is to get Turner in a position to have

a constant roof over his head, food on the table and his needed

medication.

“We just don’t want to hear that he is living in his car again,”

Edwards said.