Like
midnight lightning Jimi Hendrix came
on the scene as a comet entering the
atmosphere. Every person that
was fortunate enough to see him in
person experienced his spiritual devotion
to music and his guitar.
Now: over 30 years after his death his
music plays in every corner of the planet. You
can still see his lightning licks and
his touching lyrics anywhere you go in
the world. His stamp as the greatest
guitar player ever is undisputable.
Before he was a rock God he was just a
high school kid in Renton, WA that had
a love for sports and hydroplane racing. We
are now able to have a look back in time
to the world of Jimi Hendrix before he
became a rock icon.
As with most artists Jimi used elements
in his immediate environment as models
for his artwork. The body of work contains
pictures and portraits of events and activities
that Jimi attended in the Peugeot Sound
area while in high school in the late
1950’s.The majority of these images
are of boat races, football players and
army scenes. Lake Washington was the location
for the unlimited hydroplane races for
the 50’s and 60’s Jimi attended
the races and over time painted almost
all of the boats in the races. It
is in some of these pieces that he began
to expand and paint wonderful watercolor
backgrounds primarily using the cascade
mountain range and Mt Rainier.
As
a teenager Jimi was fascinated with the
port of Seattle and did several images
containing pictures of the Seattle waterfront
and skyline in the late 50’s. His
watercolor portraits of buildings explode
with color and geometric shapes as one
might imagine from Hendrix. As his work
evolved he began to do abstract art that
was very detailed and intense. He wove
stories into complex grid and color patterns
so intricately the viewer is drawn deeper
into Jimi’s world, if they want
to take the trip.
Much like in Jimi’s’ music,
there is often more than meets the eye
when you delve a little deeper into his
artwork. Jimi had the ability to weave
magical backgrounds and create ethereal
scenes that existed within his mind in
the same way he was able to achieve the
impossible while playing the guitar. Some
of the artwork contains a spiritual quality
not unlike some of his music.
One dominant theme in Jimi’s life
was the cascade mountain chain in particularly
Mt Rainier, which was literally out his
backdoor. We are extremely fortunate
to be able to look back and see an aspect
of Jimi that has been hidden for all of
these years.
Truly a multi talented
individual that was with us for a
short time but that will stay with
us forever through his music and now
with his art. The Jimi Hendrix
collection in association with Experience
Hendrix have restored and catalogued
Jimi’s visual art legacy and
are now presenting it to the public
for the first time. Along with
estate signed limited editions of
his paintings and drawings we will
also be unveiling limited edition
manuscripts of Jimi’s songs
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