Poker News

George Marlowe’s Artwork

In the last issue of Poker Player, we followed George Marlowe’s life from getting kicked out of half a dozen schools for playing poker to a career of a successful professional poker player, to his entrance into the “real world” and a “real” career during his years as “Super Dad” and the birth of a new passion, ceramic art. As explained in Part I, whenever I heard the word, “ceramics”, my knowledge was that of my grandmother’s pottery classes where she proudly produced vases, pots and ashtrays. Upon my first visit to Marlowe’s studio, I was quickly educated about ceramic art. Not one pot, vase or ashtray, rather there were masques, contemporary masques of all sizes and personalities in different stages of completion. In 1989, his work has was featured at the D. Genero Galleries in Santa Monica and Venice, California. His early work included pieces such as Silly Dali, Picasso Clown and a haunting series on aliens. Since then the Marlowe collection has been featured in the International Festival of Masques and the Guild sourcebook of Contemporary Craft Artists and he has been featured in a one-man show at Gallery Rodeo in Beverly Hills, California and the Kracke Gallery, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. He specializes in masques he explains, because every face (human or ceramic) is individual and unique. As in his personality his sense of humor is apparent in his masques. It has been called the trademark of his art.

George continued playing poker on a more social level but made impressive scores along the way including a seventh place finish in the 1993 World Series of Poker, limit hold’em event, and a fifth place finish in 2003 in Omaha high-low split. His love for pokerprompted his first poker-related masques, which were two jokers. The Commerce Casino purchased the set on first viewing and put them on display in the top section of the casino. Since then he has created a series, the whimsical King, Queen, Jack, Poker Joker and my favorite ‘The Poker Mini-Wizard’. The Mini-Wizard proudly hangs in the entry focal point of my home. Each piece has it’s own personality. He continued his poker themed collection with the Queens series, the Kings series, and the Jacks; each and every piece is one of a kind and processes a distinct Marlowe flair.

Today, the masques and faces created by George Marlowe are on display in private homes internationally. Many professional and prominent poker players or poker industry people are now Marlowe collectors. Tom McEvoy holds the title of owning the largest collection of Marlowe art with 18 pieces. (Footnote; McEvoy’s “Queens” collection hangs in his kitchen. Somehow, someday, I’m gonna get him for that.)

With Marlowe’s latest creations, wanna-be collectors can start small, so to speak. He has created a line of Card Cappers and poker themed jewelry in the shapes of the four suits, like his masques, all are different, hand made and one of a kind; dedicated to the purchaser and signed by the artist.

On the explosion of the popularity of poker Marlowe had this to say, “Today, if they kicked kids out of school for playing poker, the schools would be empty! These young players are watching final table play on TV and bringing that unrealistic knowledge into the early stages of a tournament and into live games. There is more dead money in poker today than live people. What’s next? I can see the headline, ‘A four-year old wins a major online tournament and wears the bracelet as a belt.’”

With his Superdad days behind him and now enjoying his retirement from the “real” world, Marlowe is back to engrossing himself in his two passions, poker and ceramics.

“Interesting how things come full circle,” he recently said. “From playing poker and doing art … to playing poker and doing art. I am a lucky man. I love my life!”

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