Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera really wanted to buy a painting last week in Atlanta.
He met with the artist, Steve Penley, at Penley’s gallery as Super Bowl festivities swallowed the city. Penley’s style features re-imaginings of the portraits of famous historic figures under swaths of vivid rainbow colors in broad brush strokes. The one Rivera wanted incorporated the bust from a well-known 1940s photo of Winston Churchill, easily as tall as Rivera himself and about 10 feet long, covered in bright streaks of color.
Rivera loves Churchill. He’s read countless articles, biographies and novels about the former British Prime Minister.