By Daily Press staff
A Santa Monica gallery will be a sitting duck of sorts beginning today.
An exhibition of original and limited-edition artwork by best-selling poster artist Michael Bedard opens at 7 p.m. today and runs through Nov. 16 at the Vintage Animation Gallery, 1404 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica.
Bedard is best known for his 1980 “Sitting Ducks” painting featuring big-billed ducks sipping poolside drinks while frozen in a momentary state of denial as they notice an ominous group of bullet holes above their heads.
Bedard’s first duck daydreams were attempts to stay sane during shifts on a Detroit factory assembly line. But three decades later, Bedard’s paintings, posters and sculptures of his signature ducks in various tenuous circumstances have generated more than $70 million.
“I have learned that accidents in both my art and my life have opened up possibilities beyond what I had previously imagined,” Bedard said. “Accidents can be looked at as gifts that lead us from predictable places to unexpected surprises.”
Bedard’s pieces have gained international recognition for their intelligent brand of humor. And his often allegory art carries themes of vulnerability and bravado required to bluff one’s way through the complications and threats of modern life.
Bedard’s ducks recently also have been appearing outside the canvas.
The “Sitting Ducks” artwork has prompted an award-winning children’s book and animation series by the same name. Both book and cartoon tell stories of unlikely food-chain-friendships between animals.
Bedard’s first illustrated children’s book tells a story of a duck that, with the aid of an alligator, inspires the ducks of Ducktown to escape their destiny in an alligator-eat-duck world. With more than 130,000 copies sold worldwide, The New York Times selected the book as a “top children’s gift pick” of the year.
The “Sitting Ducks” animated series debuted last spring on the Cartoon Network, and the show is currently being developed as the basis of an interactive video game to be released this winter for PlayStation 2.
Bedard also served as the creative force behind the Emmy Award-winning TV special “The Santa Claus Brothers,” depicting the hapless adventures of Santa and Mrs. Claus’ three sons. The show’s voice-over cast includes actors from TV shows “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Spin City” and “Mad TV.”
Bedard, a native of Canada, currently lives in Malibu with his family and dogs.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 17, 2003. Read the original PDF.