Art from the outside
Lyle Enloe is the house artist for Players & Spectators on East Sprague. When the business changed owners, the sports paraphernalia was removed from the entryway walls, and large white space was left behind.
Enloe, 58, does outsider art, which means art from outside the art world. It is work done by untrained artists who express themselves freely.
Last summer, Enloe was selling some of his art at his sister’s garage sale on East Broadway. An art enthusiast recognized his talent and suggested that he show his work at P&S. Now, as the house artist, he has sold a few pieces there and hopes to sell more. Enloe, along with his brother, also created “Texas Hold ‘Em” T-shirts, mugs and hats that he will be selling out of P&S.
“It’s been wonderful having his work in here. People really enjoy it,” said Janice Boardman, accounting manager at P&S, “and it’s a good way to be a part of the community by bringing art to the community.” Last May, P&S hosted a show of work done by Central Valley High School students.
Enloe’s work is both realistic and imaginary. His father, a carpenter who spent much of his free time doodling, inspired him. Enloe painted his first piece in ninth grade. It was a cityscape, and a music teacher purchased it for $125.
Enloe’s artistic training did not go past high school. In 1966, he was drafted and sent to Germany. In the Army for only a couple of years, he married a German girl, had a daughter, got divorced, and moved to Spokane in 1974.
In Germany, Enloe painted buildings, walls and decorated a children’s wing in a hospital. He got quite proficient with house paint and began doing paintings with it. He painted on whatever he could find, and he sold many of his pieces. People even began to seek him out.
Back in Spokane, he married again in 1976, had two daughters, and returned to Germany from 1981 to 1991 and continued to paint. He returned to Spokane in 1991 and began doing commercial painting again.
His wild streak and rebel spirit followed him and eventually caught up with him. In 1999, he went through heart surgery. Now, living with a troubled heart and lungs, he creates his paintings. He still uses house paint and mixes many of the colors himself, starting with a white base.
He paints on wood, canvas and furniture that’s usually found or bought cheaply and then redone. He builds his own frames or uses old ones.
His color schemes and subject matters are heartfelt, wild and strange. His style emulates the 1960s or ‘70s. He occasionally incorporates tinfoil, and many of his caricatures have a leg with a much larger foot in the foreground, closer to the viewer.
He paints people doing a variety of things, colorful landscapes and cityscapes, and interesting still lifes. Currently he is working on a portrait for a client, representing the client and her husband on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. When it is finished, it will be displayed at P&S as a sample of his custom work. No doubt it will be fanciful.
His pieces are reasonably priced because he wants those who appreciate his art to afford it. He hopes one day for his name to be known as an artist. His work adorns walls in Germany, and now, in Spokane Valley. Who knows where else in the future?