"Ocean
Gallery" by Paul McGehee depicts the famous Ocean City, Maryland
boardwalk art gallery on a sunny summer day. Started back in the
mid-1960s by artist Joe Kroart and his wife Adele, the first Ocean
Gallery had its beginnings as a display of paintings for sale in the
lobby of the Colonial Hotel at 1st Street. As years went by, the
business grew and soon had its own building on the boardwalk. The Ocean
Gallery building at 2nd Street, in fact, features on its exterior
decorative items salvaged from the old Colonial Hotel after it burned
in the winter of 1972. The unique structure which took 17 years to
complete also features parts of antique buildings from all over the
world, making it Ocean City's only 'recycled building'! It is a
work of conceptual art in and of itself, created by Kroart. For over
half a century the gallery has offered artwork and framing year-round
to a very loyal local following of art-lovers, as well as to the
thousands of tourists who visit the Maryland beach resort town each
year. Their longtime motto is "fine art can be fun". Proving the point,
what other art gallery boasts its very own "Batmobile" parked
alongside? Through the years, Ocean Gallery has seen many celebrities
pass through its doors; people from all facets of the worlds of
entertainment, sports and politics...luminaries such as Hall of Fame
quarterback Johnny Unitas and Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer
were regulars. The Ocean Gallery building itself has been featured in
several major motion pictures such as "Violets Are Blue" and "Ping Pong
Summer" as well as numerous television programs and news
broadcasts...it is truly an Ocean City boardwalk icon. In the distance
in this scene we can also see the Park Place Hotel and the Breakers
Hotel looking down the boardwalk to the north. "Ocean Gallery" is
faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color
pencil drawing as an archival quality print issued in a strictly
limited edition of only 2,000 pieces each hand-signed by the artist.
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