Portrait Of The Artist As A New Man
Six years after a long-undetected brain tumor caused a seizure that almost killed him, the 65-year-old godfather of the East Market art district, Billy Hertz, is still turning out paintings at his Preston Street studio/gallery with the spunk of a teenager.
By Josh Moss Photos by Mickie Winters
[70] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 7.12
I
t's that damn coffee cup that bothers him. In his painting studio, almost six years to the day since surgeons sliced a pound and an ounce worth of tumor from his brain, Billy Hertz is in a wheeled desk chair, which is where he spends much of his days. He has a sideways-U-shaped scar atop his head, the rutted curve barreling through the white-gray fuzz. Te 65-year-old's walker, with bright new tennis balls on its back legs, is nearby, right where he likes it. Every 15 minutes or so, he needs to get up to stretch his legs. He's been relying on a walker, on and off, for the past two years. "Te only way I can get down to the ground is to fall!" he jokes. Sometimes somebody will move
