For a limited time from August 16 – December 31, 2021, come see the Museum’s new temporary exhibit “Aces and Art: American Aces in Art by Roy Grinnell” on display in the Museum’s Browning Gallery! As the Official Artist and Honoree of the American Fighter Aces Association (AFAA), Roy Grinnell completed 51 original paintings for the AFAA, accurately portraying the aerial combat of aces from World War I, World War II, Vietnam and the Korean War. These paintings are based on the oral history of the aces involved, and are as close as they can be to what really occurred. See artwork portraying the actions of ten American aces spanning multiple conflicts, from World War II, Korea, the Arab-Israeli War, and Vietnam. In addition to the published paintings, the gallery includes small concept paintings that Roy used in designing the final painting. Many of these concept pieces have never been publicly displayed prior to this exhibition.
About the artist
Roy Grinnell (1933-2019) loved to draw airplanes. When he was not drawing them, he was building plastic models, a hobby he passionately enjoyed. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he attended the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles where he graduated with honors. He moved to New York City where he was an illustrator for several years, but eventually, he became a freelance artist.
Roy enjoyed a diverse and varied background in the arts, and his unique talent gave him an incredible opportunity to express himself in his paintings whether the subject was aviation, western and Native American art, wildlife, illustration, impressionism or realism. Roy won numerous art awards in both aviation art and western/Native American art.
About the American Fighter Aces Association
Logan Goodson is a lifelong resident of the Houston Clear Lake area, Logan is a graphic artist at NASA Johnson Space Center. He is a self-taught painter whose style has been described as a fusion of realism and pop art. Logan’s fine art works for NASA have included a series of paintings of Gateway, Orion, and the Space Launch System. He recently completed a painting commemorating the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station. In 2019, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, he created a series of paintings of the twelve American astronauts who walked on the Moon called “Moon Walkers.”