Insert your favorite lawyer joke here

The Austin Lounge Lizards have a song about alcoholics that go on the wagon called "When Drunks Go Bad." I'm not sure this is on the same level, but a former colleague of mine from back in the days when I worked for one of the city's more prominent public relations firms tipped me off to the saga of artist known only as Donray.

He wasn't always known only as Donray. He was born Donald Arvin Ray in Houston, served with the Marines in Vietnam and then went on to Baylor Law School after which he came a practicing attorney, mainly in East Texas, from what I gather from his official biography. But he had this hankering to make art and in 1989 he moved here, living in Deep Ellum (the painting I have displayed here is his vision of Deep Ellum which is remarkably similar to the chemically induced visions I had of this city in the late 1960s and early 1970s), and then in 1993 to New York City. He moved back to Texas in 1999 and currently lives in Arlington.

What makes Donray's story even more compelling, besides the fact that actor Johnny Depp is a Donray collector, is that two weeks ago Allegiance Capital Corporation, an investment banking firm, said to hell with the economy and announced the purchase of "a number" of Donray's works. “People are looking for alternative investment vehicles, especially given the recent volatility of the stock market and financial institutions,” said David Mahmood, founder and chairman of Allegiance Capital. “Art is a unique investment that has proven over time to have unusual growth potential and strong staying power. We believe an artist like Donray is on the cusp of big things, and with our proven track record, we feel comfortable supporting what many other firms might consider a non-traditional investment.”

Now, I'm no art critic, although I worked with a fine one, Janet Kutner, back when I was with the Dallas Morning News. But British writer, poet and art critic John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith said of Donway his "paintings demonstrate an inverted approach; gentle and focused at the same time being super-macho and withdrawn. Viewers are invited to draw near but not to intrude on the artist’s thoughts…" And Donald Kuspit, art critic and professor of art history at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, said "There is a verve, an energy, a dynamic surging gesture, violent movement, an overall vividness and vitality – that places Donray’s paintings among the most interesting of what might be called post-modern expressionist painting."

He's had a number of exhibitions at London's Rivington Gallery, including a 10-year anniversary exhibition there two years ago. His last exhibition in this area was also in 2007 at the Arlington Museum of Art. Allegiance Capital says it will make "some of the works" it purchased available for public exhibition later this year at its offices in Dallas (5429 LBJ Freeway, Suite 750, near the Galleria) and in New York.