Bob Wade

Bob "Daddy-O" Wade (January 6, 1943 – December 23, 2019) Wade soon turned to a new process with his work in photo-emulsion canvases, which quickly drew attention in the larger art world. One piece, ‘Gettin’ It on Near Cedar Hill’, a depiction of two heifers in a rather indelicate position, appeared in Art Forum in 1971, and was reviewed by Robert Pincus-Witten. Continuing this technique, Wade transferred vintage and Texas themed photos to photo-emulsion canvases on a large scale and applied color. These works include photos such as Mexican revolutionaries, a cowboy band, Texas boys and their guns, Yaquis, and his most well known, the 10' wide canvas, ‘Cowgirls on Harleys’.

As part of the American Bicentennial celebration Wade installed a U.S. map the size of a football field in Dallas. Constructed from plywood, concrete, and earth, the map featured miniature oil wells, billboards, skyscrapers, and replicas of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Visible from planes leaving DFW International Airport, the work was covered by People magazine and made Wade famous.

Wade's teaching career ended in 1977 when he turned his full attention to making his art. In 1979 Wade began a series of canvases that would expand this technique. Wade decided to enlarge a 1922 postcard of cowgirls onto a photo emulsion canvas and hand-tint it in vivid colors. This accentuated the details in the women's faces and clothes. This was Wade's tribute to the American cowgirl, a subject that entered a revival about that time.

Wade lived and worked in Austin, Texas. Wade's work can be found at The Grove, a public art program at Waterside, in Fort Worth. Installed in 2016, this outdoor sculpture celebrates the area's history and is made from re-purposed amusement rides and playground equipment.

The Texas Book Festival chose Wade's “Let ’er Rip,” an image of a vintage cowgirl riding an oversized, bucking Texas horned frog, for its 2020 festival poster. During his last months of life Wade collaborated with over forty artists and writers on “Daddy-O's Book of Big-Ass Art”, a book featuring images and tales of more than a hundred of his most famous pieces. It was published ten months after his death in November, 2020.

Personal life Wade was married twice, first to Sue Immel, ending in divorce. He met his second wife, Lisa Sherman, in 1982. By 1989 they were married and had a daughter, Rachel.

Public art Wade's public art can be found mainly in Texas. The following is a partial list.

Funny Farm Family – Located at the Art Center, 1300 College Dr., McLennan Community College, Waco, Texas. A number of colorful bomb casings and steel. Dancing Frogs, exit 374, I-35 East, Carl's Corner, Texas, north of Hillsboro, Texas. The six frogs were originally created for the Tango nightclub in Dallas. After the club closed three of the frogs were sold to Chuy's in Houston and three stand outside the Carl's Corner gas station. El Salsero atop La Salsa restaurant, 22800 West Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California. Wade transformed a 1950s giant fiberglass Muffler Man who held a giant hamburger into La Salsa Man, when the restaurant below became La Salsa in 1987. A mustache was added and a sombrero was fashioned out of the top hamburger bun. A serape was attached to his shoulder and his boots were painted to look like huarache sandals. The bottom bun became a platter holding a beer bottle and some Mexican food. Lone Star Cafe Iguana A , iguana that topped the roof of the Lone Star Cafe in New York City from 1978 to 1989. It was acquired by the Fort Worth Zoo and installed on the roof of their animal hospital in June 2010.

Other works include giant armadillos, dancing frogs, urethane-foamed World's Biggest Cowboy Boots originally installed near the White House, a saxophone and a New Orleans Saints helmet created from a Volkswagen beetle, currently atop the Shoal Creek Saloon in Austin, Texas.

Awards and recognition Wade received three National Endowment of the Arts grants and has been included in Biennial exhibitions in Paris and in New Orleans. His work has been part of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and in the collections of the Houston Museum of Art, the Austin Museum of Art, the Chase Manhattan Bank, the Menil Collection, and AT&T. Wade was dubbed a "pioneer of Texas Funk and connoisseur of Southwestern kitsch," by the Fort Worth Star Telegram.