Rob Schamberger Discusses Working the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Weekend, Painting Bruiser Brody & More

– Wrestling artist Rob Schamberger discussed appearing at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend in a new interview, as released by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Highlights are below:

On having an exhibit with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame: “I’ve been working with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum for about six years and it was actually through my first appearance with them that I landed on WWE’s radar. Each year since then, I’ve done paintings of each of the inductees in that year’s Hall of Fame class. This year, Museum Director Kyle Klingman reached out to me and wanted to do a museum takeover with my art. This will be the largest exhibition of my work ever with over 100 paintings displayed. It’s a massive honor. Every artist wants to have just one painting hanging in a museum. To have a museum turn itself over just to show my work is humbling beyond description.”

On having his work displayed in the museum and during the week: “Every artist wants to be able to make a living from art, but a lot of times that can seem almost transitory, like you’re making that sale in that moment but it feels like there’s not much legacy left. Having an institution like the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum put my work in their permanent collection gives that legacy and permanence to my work and raises the pedigree of the work itself.”

On doing a new Bruiser Brody portrait for his Hall of Fame induction: “In an alternate universe, I get to just do Bruiser Brody paintings all day, every day. There’s a manic energy, like a modern barbarism, to him that is just so exciting to paint. The cold, calculated wild man — this dichotomy to him just gives me so much to work with beyond his already over-the-top visual appearance. I’m going to try to capture all of those things in the painting, but also just to make it as bombastic as possible. I think that his being honored by the Hall of Fame will, I hope, do a lot to get across how important he was in life and in wrestling. He was a top star at a time where, to be a top star, you had to be signed with one of the major companies, but he never was. He would come in and do appearances, but he really was in the driver’s seat of his own career. That’s something that was hard to do then and it’s still hard to do today, and I think above anything else, that’s something that today’s generation and future generations should recognize.”

On what else he’s looking forward to: “Because Owen Hart is being honored, which is well-deserved, several members of the Hart family are attending. And every year, Larry “The Axe” Hennig participates in the Hall of Fame week, too, so I thought that would make this year a great opportunity to do the latest in my Rivalry Series of paintings, featuring Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect. I’ll be painting that live at the museum during the week (July 26-28), and I think it brings everything together: the people who are being honored this year, those that have been honored in the past, the museum being turned over to showcase my art and people also being able to watch me make a painting.”