The story of Time and Place goes beyond Hollywood’s most flagrant fiction.
It is the story of Norman Adams.

While the likes of a genius can entertain the world
– it takes a genius to spot a super-genius.

History gives us example after example that only a genius can be dumbfounded or awed by greater genius, a super-genius. 

Perhaps the best example comes in the movie Good Will Hunting. In the movie a Fields Medal winning Math Professor discovers that a janitor, Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon, is a genius far far beyond anything the Math Professor can imagine. The professor tells the janitor that perhaps only five people in the word are smart enough to be dumbfounded by the super-genius, the janitor, Will Hunting.

Mozart's story, Amadeus, echoes the same. While the rest of the world was, at best, entertained with Mozart's music it took one of the greatest composers of his time, Antonio Salieri, to be literally dumbfounded by the super-genius Mozart.

So too with Johann Sebastian Bach. For over two hundred years Bach was unknown to the world until two geniuses of music Franz List and Frederic Chopin came along to be dumbfounded at the super-genius of Bach.

 – it takes a genius to spot a super-genius.

Today Mozart and Bach are the standard of genius by which all musicians/composers are measured.

Robert Fawcett.

When Norman Adams was still a youngster he obsessively bought and even stole every magazine/ book that had illustrations by great Illustrators, especially Robert Fawcett.  Fawcett was so good at what he did that he became known as the “Illustrators Illustrator.” Even as a child Norman Adams was aware that of all the Illustrators Robert Fawcett was such a creative genius with his art that, more than any other artist, he was a benchmark for all Illustrators. 

Today, Robert Fawcett is in History's “Black-Hole.” But when Norman Adams was awed by Robert Fawcett he was exactly like Mozart was to music: Robert Fawcett was so creative with his art that he was the standard by which “the most creative, successful, wealthy and famous professionals (Famous Artists School) the world has EVER known” would be judged.

Norman Adams.

The story of Norman Adams is the story of “Time and Place.” This story, however, needs Robert Fawcett to fathom. 

Most of the successful Illustrators took Robert Fawcett to be an Illustrator’s Illustrator. By the time Norman Adams arrived on a red-carpet at the Charles E. Cooper Studio, in New York, Robert Fawcett was an old man. Norman Adams met this old man, Robert Fawcett, only once. It was at a Society of Illustrators meeting.

The young neophyte Norman spotted the Old Man, Robert Fawcett, at the other end of the auditorium and was so intimidated by his idol/god that he had to turn around and occupy himself eating appetizers. 

Then the unimaginable happened: Norman’s idol/god, Robert Fawcett, came up behind the young neophyte Norman, touched him on the shoulder and -- just like Salieri must have introduced himself to Mozart – the Illustrator’s Illustrator introduced himself to Norman Adams.

Only after I watched the movie Good Will Hunting, and Amadeus, did I realize why Robert Fawcett -- the Illustrator’s Illustrator -- would go up and introduce himself to a neophyte, a relative unknown, like Norman Adams.
 Robert Fawcett knew exactly why Charles E. Cooper rolled out the proverbial red-carpet for the youngster Norman Adams. Just like Antonio Salieri was just one of a few in the world that could fathom the genius that made Mozart the best ... so too only a very few people in the world, like Charles E. Cooper and Robert Fawcett, realized that Norman Adams was a creative genius who had both the technical skills and artistic versatility that made him the best.

If this story seems surreal ... then Norman Adams' story of Time and Place brings it into the real.

-- Geza Palotas

Probably few paintings personify the reward-inside, Atman, that Norman Adams gets from painting than does this 24x36 oil painting of Coatimundis.

If ever there was a painting that Norman Adams was certain would unlikely sell then it is this Painting. But just like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven had to write the music that gave them the most reward-inside -- regardless of what others thought -- so too Norman Adams had to paint these paintings for the same reward-inside -- regardless of what others thought. 

These two paintings of a cougar reveal just how different the original can be compared to copies, prints.

When these two originals are placed next to each other, the sitting cougar simply has more life, it has a magic that the standing cougar simply does not have.

 It is more than the cougar, it has a lot to do with the way the design and setting compliment the animal, and its attitude that the sitting cougar has more than the standing cat. Because of its design and components the above painting also has a depth to its values that help add this “life” and depth to the painting that the painting below does not seem to have. I have little doubt that if young children were around these two paintings more of them would want to touch the painting above than the one below. Only when the originals are placed next to each other are the differences obvious -- probably far more to young children than those of us whose Inside values and rewards have been reprogrammed by society for outside rewards and values.

These photographs/images of these two Cougars however want to tell us a different story. No matter how much I try to manipulate these images to make them look like the original, much of the life and vitality in the top, sitting, painting is lost so the image of the standing cougar, above, dominates the sitting cougar -- exactly the opposite of the originals.

 Music helps explain some of these differences. One day a musician might perform a concert and everything falls together perfectly to perhaps move an audience with tears of joy for the same reward-inside that the musician gets from his performance. On another day, when things don’t fall together, the same artist might perform the same concert to the same audience and move them little for no other reason because his reward-inside is just not there .. so the audience cannot get this reward- inside the musician has to get from performing the music for the audience to get the same reward-inside from hearing and seeing the concert, but mostly FEELING the concert. So too with art.

Some paintings are painted at the right time when everything falls together more or less perfectly for the artist to get a especially potent dose of reward-inside that makes that painting often seem/look but mostly feel light-years ahead of all his other paintings. Only with relatively rare paintings do things come together for an artist for a few rare paintings during a whole lifetime of painting ... like the WA State Cougar, the Rocks River Bear, the Three Pheasants,  Two Coyotes, Sparrowhawk, Grand Canyon - Golden Eagle , N. Cascade Elk for the very outstanding -- soon to be -- priceless ones.  

 Norman Adams: Original oil painting of Mexico, Panuco 24x36 oil.  Norman painted this for its own Reward, reward-inside, Atman, alias Kundalini. This reward-inside was more intense than an earlier original oil painting of Copala Mexico, right, 24x36. Norman had to paint these paintings for its own-reward because he knew before he painted the first painting that it would probably not sell any better than the second one would... so he painted them anyway for the reward-inside utterly oblivious to any outside-values, like money, selling.

The hidden genius of Norman Rockwell

The Atman Art of Gustav Klimt