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Batter Up! Rog Petersen’s 4th Annual “Bat, Ball & Brush” Art Show at Atlantis


All month long, Atlantis, the Lost Bar (located at 2442 Frankford Avenue) will be featuring the work of local artist Roger Petersen. Rog is hanging his 4th Annual “Bat, Ball & Brush” show, featuring brand new, old-timey baseball card art. In his signature style, Petersen meticulously crafts hand-painted and inked portraits the size of actual baseball cards. For the past few years, Rog has been framing and hanging this perennial show at Atlantis, where he also bartends a few days a week.

This year, the portraits feature all classic Phillies, from Richie Ashburn and Eddie Waitkus to Mike Schmidt and John Kruk. Rog even painted an awesome memorial card of Harry Kalas. The portraits are painted with a limited color palette of red and light blue (in honor of the 1970’s Phillies uniforms). There are over twenty pieces in the show.

I was fortunate enough to visit Roger in his studio and photograph some of the pieces as he was lying in the background and putting some finishing touches on the cards. This year’s “Bat, Ball & Brush” show has a new feature: a limited run of printed baseball cards from last year’s show, which contain mostly current Phillies. Each card in the pack has stats on the back and a quote from Rog about the player. The card packs are printed on sturdy watercolor stock, giving each piece a rustic, old fashioned feel. So even if you cannot get your hands on one of the originals, you can still walk away with a set of these handsome cards. Roger worked on the card pack with his lady Rachel, who is an amazing designer and Petersen’s greatest promoter.

I can’t tell what Rog Petersen is a bigger fan of – art or baseball. Rog made a life for himself as an accomplished illustrator and cartoonist. To look at his work, you might think he is an older artist. Roger’s lines are economical – he shows you just the right amount of detail. He is wise beyond his years as an artist, and has learned, even at this very young age, to cut away the unnecessary fat. I have seen Petersen do all kinds of art – from sign painting to comics to lifelike, life-size charcoal drawings. When I start to look over Rog’s body of work, I often ask myself, “Is there any kind of art he can’t make?” As someone with a fraction of Roger’s ability, I will be the first to admit that his work can be intimidating.

But then again, let’s be honest – Rog has been in training since he was just a pup. Rog’s young life was a whirlwind of artistic inspiration and hard work. He has been working in the business professionally since he was in his teens. Petersen’s passion was instilled in him by his grandfather, legendary artist George Evans. George had drawn countless comics, illustrations and cartoons throughout his life, from controversial and celebrated EC Comics to the final multi-year run on the daily strip Secret Agent Corrigan. Evans was also a master of aviation art, with work on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

From the time Rog was a young kid, George introduced him to a colorful world of cartoonists and illustrators, bringing back signatures and sketches from comic shows. Rog told me a story that his grandfather once took him to an awards dinner where he sat at a banquet table with heavy metal icon Glen Danzig and Frank Frazetta, who was like a god to our generation of illustrators. It is a well-documented fact that George was kind of a mentor to Frazetta during Frank’s early days in comics. Cartooning and illustration is like that though. It is a way of life, a line of work that transcends age and time.

It turns out that Rog’s grandfather also loved the game of baseball. “Bill Gaines, (the owner of EC Comics) would always get sore at George, Frazetta and Al Williamson, because they would constantly be outside playing catch when they should have been in the studio drawing,” Rog said, “And you know how it is – You’ve got three guys with gloves and a ball. Someone would show up with a bat, and you’ve got yourself a game.”

I asked Roger if he loved baseball or art better. “Why do I have to pick one?” he answered. Then with a devilish smile, he paused for a moment and whispered, “baseball.” In the past six years or so, I’ve done a lot of drawing and drinking with Rog. And if I am drinking or drawing with him during baseball season, there will always be a game on the television or the radio. It seems to me that from the end of October until April is basically a season of waiting for Roger Petersen. Rog comes to life during baseball season. He transforms into a lighter version of himself. Just as with his art, Rog’s love of baseball can be traced back to his childhood days. There was always baseball on the radio in his house. It set the mood for his family.

Rog reminisced about attending his first baseball game, saying, “I remember Bob Boone hit a home run that game, and to me, he was a home run hitter.”

Baseball holds that kind of nostalgia that connects Rog and so many others to their childhood. You can tell that he has tapped into something collectively treasured by the amount of people in Atlantis last Friday. This year’s “Bat, Ball & Brush” opening was packed from bar to wall. All of the customers had a special connection to the player on the cards they bought. I asked a customer named Andy what he thought of the show. Andy, who purchased the Steve Carlton card, said, “It’s awesome. I love it. You look at these, even from twenty feet away, and you know who they are. I know that’s John Kruk. I know that’s Richie Ashburn.” I thought this was a great credit to Rog’s artistic ability, especially since the pieces are drawn to the scale of actual baseball cards.

Chris Kelleher, who sat at a table coloring in a photocopied coloring book page of Garry Maddox, told me that he looks forward to this art show every year, because it has become a tradition that kicks off baseball season. “It’s a fun, enjoyable time. The portraits are awesome with names you’ve heard of and some names you haven’t heard of. From the 1800’s to the 1990’s, the timeline goes from baseball’s early history to the most current.”

Although most of the pieces sold opening night, the show will hang until May 4th. If you love baseball, especially the Phillies, you need to make it out to Atlantis to see this show. It has become a neighborhood tradition that celebrates the sport and takes you back to a simpler time. Given Rog’s love of both baseball and art, I cannot imagine anyone better suited to bring something like this together.

The 4th Annual “Bat, Ball & Brush” art show by Rog Petersen – Atlantis, the Lost Bar (at 2442 Frankford Avenue) until May 4, 2012.

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