By the time of his death, Jake McCord(1948–2009) was a local celebrity in his hometown of Thomson, Georgia, where he worked full-time as a groundskeeper for 39 years while painting on the side as a hobby. McCord, a self-taught Black painter, first began creating art around 1984 after seeing a group of white women taking a painting class at the Hawes Paint Store near his home.
Aside from making art, attending church and fishing in his free time, Jake McCord was completely obsessed with watching television. The artist often had seven or more TVs playing at one time, each set to a different channel such as Home and Garden or one of his beloved soap operas. The theory was simple– it wasn’t good to have the TV off for too long. McCord’s devotion to television clearly influenced the characters he portrayed, and it also provided a sense of having company while he worked.
McCord used his front porch to showcase his artworks, nailing paintings on plywood to the exterior of his home, which he called his “gallery”. At a glance, his 2-dimensional imagery might simply read as cartoonish, but these paintings were more likely realistic representations in the artist’s eyes: big-haired women seen in town (or on television), wild animals, cats and dogs, and species-bending creatures derived from his imagination that often resembled Godzilla. McCord's subjects occasionally look menacing or terrified, with teeth bared and wide-open eyes, but McCord always asserted that all of his subjects were “jolly” and smiling, and they were often well accessorized with what he called “extra touches” such as a purse, wristwatches, a beer or a leashed pet.
McCord was adamant about how long a piece needed to stay on display on his front porch before he would allow anyone to purchase it. To him, it was important that people passing by had the time to admire his paintings before he was comfortable with parting with them. He liked to say that movie stars had come by to visit and had been turned down if a piece wasn’t quite “ready to go”.
The Bold and the Beautiful features many of McCord’s largest paintings, many almost 8-feet tall, and allows us a glimpse into what once was only on display for the locals of Thomson, GA, or those lucky enough to pass by the artist's home on their journeys.