Kevin 'Pro' Hart 1928-2006

On the 28th of March this year, my good friend and brother in the Faith of Jesus died at the age of 77 (almost 78). As a tribute to Pro I am going to share a few of my favorite memories of him with you.... as well as some of his artwork. Pro and I met after he read a copy of my first book, "The Cosmic Conspiracy". Some of his paintings show the same pyramid and all-seeing eye that I had on my book cover. He phoned me and we began a friendship that lasted some 25 years. One night he rang me from his home which was about 1500 miles from mine to share his excitement over a new toy he had purchased. He had a six-shooter that shot laser pulses at a target to allow him to draw and fire and score the shots electronically. It was an Israeli invention and he was thoroughly enjoying himself... He knew that I had practiced quick-drawing at one time in my youth and had pieces of lead in my right leg to prove it <grin>. With his typical straight-faced humor he suggested his new toy would be a safer way for me to practice. On another occasion he rang me and then mailed me info on the test results from his new invention for his 'Rollers' (he used to call his Rolls vehicles, his 'Rollers') carburetor. The emission results were astounding as almost 100% of the nasty emissions were not present when he had his invention in the system. Somehow, the powers that be just never saw the value of his work on this device but that never stopped his enthusiasm for perfecting it. Pro also loved to make big metal rockets and then launch them from his backyard there in town. He often told the story of the time one of rockets did a nose dive right after takeoff and landed in his neighbor's living room. Ha ha!.... Pro had often wished he could buy that guy's property. I'm not sure if he ever got to do so but one could certainly see that neighbor deciding to leave after that! Pro had a keen and inventive mind. Yet, he was never pretentious. He quietly helped many children and adults in need. He gave away many many Bibles on which he had painted one of his famous insect figures. He figured that his artwork on the Bibles would encourage the owners to keep the Bible if for no other reason than for the collector value. It was a clever way to get folks exposed to God's Word. In fact, he co-authored a few books in which could be found his witness. One that I have on the shelf here is entitled: "A Bloke Called Jesus", and yet another called, "Outback Christmas". Once he gave our kids some of his watercolor paintings at a time when he was first experimenting in watercolors. I remember one day when he and his wife, Raylee, were in Perth for a visit and he was explaining his latest experiment in painting abstract flowers. He described in great detail how he would take a certain sized brush and would stack dabs of paint on the top of it. Then he would stand sideways to his canvas and would wait... for the right moment. "Then," he said with a perfectly straight face, "when the right moment arrives I just hit the canvas with the brush and all sorts of effects, flowers and things can be made that way!" To my amazement though the paintings looked just like flowers as seen by a guy with aging vision! Amazing! Some of you will recall his TV commercials for Dupont Stainmaster carpets. He told us about the filming of those yucky spaghetti commercials when he would have to spend all day under those hot studio lights while wallowing across a floor full of spaghetti and sauce in his blue jeans to create a typical Pro Hart 'Dragonfly' painting on the carpet. Thereafter the carpet would be cleaned as good as new to illustrate that even his art could not stand up to their stain resistant carpets. What you wouldn't have heard was that he ruined 12 pairs of new blue jeans during the filming and that the spaghetti and sauce died way before mid day creating a hugely nauseous smell on the set. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. He said he asked them what they were going to do with the 12 pairs of 'spaghettied' jeans. When they told him they were going to trash them he said, "let me have 'em and I'll clean 'em for folks who need 'em, mate." He was just that sort of a bloke.... always thinking of others' needs. His ground wars with his canvasses are legends. He tried all sorts of paints and paint containers (like Christmas tree balls) as projectiles which he fired at his canvasses from his cannon and his slingshots... but only "when the moment was right." I can't remember whether he ever did it or not, but he wanted to use an iron sheet as a canvas. he wanted to place paints underneath it as it lay flat to the ground and then he wanted to detonate a stick of gelignite under it causing a really 'explosive' painting.... When he was younger and working in the mines there, he was often known as either 'the professor' or 'the judge'. The former title was because he was always inventing stuff and questioning nature. The latter was because 'he was always sitting on a case of gelignite (dynamite).' We shared a common goal in trying wake up the people of Australia to the Fabians and their desire to conquer, control and enslave Australia as soon as they could. Sadly, too many Australians never listened or believed what Pro and I and others like us had to say to them. Mel Gibson tried to warn them as well but no one wanted to hear it. Pro was a serious art collector of fine art from many periods and filled his Broken Hill Gallery with many of them. He was curious about everything and what made it work - especially people. His paintings held many subtle statements that most folks will never see. He was truly a renaissance man of the 20th Century. Maybe one day we will see a book claiming to reveal the 'Pro Codes' in his paintings and sculptures <grin>..... Dog gone it!... I miss him.... But I know we will meet again one soon in that Land of Glory.... See ya there mate... Ya did a great work here! Stan and Holly and the Deyo Family Return to Stan's Corner