ABOUT THIS BOOK: Recognizing himself in the lyrics of singer/composer Annie Lennox — "too young for hippies, too old for punks" — a sixteen-year-old Luc Leestemaker debuted as a poet in the Dutch art scene of the early 1970s and made change his talisman for years to come. Leestemaker's family tree included several generations of landscape and still life painters, but as he too stepped into the role of artist, it was per-haps not in the way the family would have hoped. Instead, he found himself living in a government squatted home in the countryside, using discarded pots of old house paint and the backside of wallpaper rolls to create images with an intensity that made Leestemaker realize he needed some more psychological preparation before he could dive into creativity's storage rooms. 

The search led him through a slew of professions, from gardener in the city's parks to actor in a "literary traveling show"; quality control inspector in an ironing-board factory to encyclopedia salesman; manager of a British publishing house; freelance advertising copywriter; taxi driver; and finally CEO and founder of his own art business consulting company and the art/business periodical Sponsoring. When the siren's call from America's West Coast reminded Leestemaker of his childhood dreams of waving palm trees, he left a restless life behind and booked a one way ticket to Los Angeles. Twenty years, thousands of paintings, numerous museum exhibitions and hundreds of gallery shows later, not much more than a faint accent remains from his Dutch past. When Leestemaker is asked where he is from, he likes to answer, "I'm from here, from L.A." And when his interrogator persists, "But where are you really from?" he delights in answering "I'm really from L.A." 

Condition: Good. SIGNED! Inscribed, personalized (see photo)! Click on Photo to see actual item. Same or next day shipping (weekdays and Saturdays)! Packed in a BOX with padding. Ships from California. Pages: not written on, clean, bright, fine edges, odor free. Dust Jacket: clean, bright, edges - light bumping to front top edge, small crease at front top left.