Renowned speed painter featured at Frankfort Franciscans' annual fundraiser

FRANKFORT – Speed painter and Disney master fine artist Rob Surette can create a portrait on a 6-foot canvas in just four minutes.

"The Today Show," "The Tonight Show," "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Good Morning America" all have featured Surette, 43, of Massachusetts. He holds several Guinness World Records and has work displayed in museums, Surette said.

Yet Surette insists he is not an artist, just an ordinary man from a devout Catholic family – many of his relatives are priests or nuns – who wants to inspire the world in extraordinary ways through what he calls “God’s work.”

On Sept. 28, Surette will speed-paint four portraits of Christ for the annual fundraiser of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Frankfort.

“Art is just a nice vehicle, a great way to reach people’s hearts,” Surette said.

Surette always has felt a strong desire to help all people, no matter their faith, philosophy or personal belief system. He pondered the ways he might accomplish that. Public speaking, Surette said, would touch the analytic, thinking parts of people – a good thing – but Surette said he wanted to reach the dreaming, imaginative side.

“I wanted to draw people in,” Surette said, “and give them something powerful to fill up their hearts.”

Surette gave his first live performance when he was 21. Before that, Surette – who did not have an art background – taught himself how to assemble a portrait – to music – in mere minutes.

He shared a few trade tricks. For one, Surette uses a black canvas. This gives faces dramatic shadows and lessens the amount of paint needed, reducing painting time, Surette said.

Surette also ensures the room is “dark and dramatic” and that the space is lit with colored lights. He then applies paint in such a way that the audience cannot immediately discern the image.

“I keep the important things until the end,” Surette said.

When Surette first began speed painting, all his portraits had a decidedly Christian theme – keeping Surette busy during Lent, when Catholic churches invited him for presentations. But hoping to make speed painting his full-time career, Surette knew he had to expand his scope.

So Surette added other heroes, "icons of people that made the world a better place,” he said. These include Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Beethoven, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln and even Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Surette said.

Yet Surette said he embeds a common theme in all his images – one that includes elements of purity, love, innocence and goodness. People attending his show may not recall his words, but they will recall how he made them feel, he said. That’s really his goal.

“I just want people to feel good, to feel happy,” Surette said. “People come up to me and say, ‘You have no idea how much I needed this.’ ”

Surette remembered a mother whose children were inspired after one of his school presentations. Their father was gone, and the two children were crying and balking at attending school that day.

Because of the way their birthdays fell – the mother’s on Lincoln’s, son’s on Mother Teresa’s and her daughter’s on Martin Luther King’s birthdays – the mother had pronounced the trio as the family’s guardian angels. She sent the children to school with the promise that these three would watch over them that day.

Coincidentally, those were the portraits Surette painted at the children’s school that day.

“After the show, the little boy came up to me and asked, ‘Can I bring my mom to see your paintings?’ ” Surette said.

Surette does school events, corporate events, Lite-Brite artworks, portraits from pushpins and even custom portraits from Legos. Each year, he works at an art camp for children affected by HIV. Even blind people enjoy his shows, Surette said, through the music and crowd reaction.

This isn’t to imply Surette’s art is never whimsical. One of his world records was a portrait created from 9,000 lipsticks. Each lipstick made a dot, which together formed the portrait from a distance, Surette said. The project took nine months to finish.

“People might say it’s a big waste of time to create something silly and ridiculous,” Surette said, “but it puts smiles on people’s faces.”

IF YOU GO
WHAT: "Face of God" Fraternitas Fundraiser
WHEN: 5 p.m. Sept. 28
WHERE: Odyssey Country Club, 19110 S. Ridgeland Ave., Tinley Park
ETC: Features Rob Surette (speed painter and official Disney master fine artist), food, raffles and auctions. Grand raffle tickets (chance to win $1,500, $1,000, $500 or $250) are $10 each, three for $25 and six for $40. Winners need not be present.
TICKETS: $90 each
VISIT: amazingheroart.com
CONTACT: Gerry Guzaitis for reservations, raffle tickets or details at 815-464-3882

MORE ABOUT SURETTE
• Performed at more than 3,500 venues during the last 19 years.
• Entertained a live audience of 20,000 and a television audience of 15 million.
• Been invited to more than 30 countries.
• Worked with numerous charities, with his paintings auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars.
• Created the backdrop for the BRAVO television show, "Watch What Happens Live."
• His name inscribed on the Rosa Parks National Monument of Tolerance.
• His name listed as one of St. Anselm College's 28 most notable alumni. Surette graduated from there in 1993 with a degree in computer science and business
• His artwork displayed in five museums.
• Attained master fine artist status for Disney, Star Wars, Pixar and Muppets.
Source: Rob Surette's website, amazingheroart.com