Zappa Inspired Art

March 25, 2005 10:15 AM

Paintings Inspired by the Music of Frank Zappa. The cynical and humorous representations of show business appeared to be reflected in the music they were listening to at the time - the music of Frank Zappa - which led to the next series of paintings, inspired by and celebrating the music and lyrics of Zappa.
posted by KevinSkomsvold (16 comments total)

These are cool, they remind me of the Day of the Dead art.

This is mildly disturbing but accurate in its own way.
posted by fenriq at 10:25 AM on March 25, 2005

Nice post.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 10:26 AM on March 25, 2005

I didn't see one about a certain donkey and a pickle, one of my favorite Zappa tunes. :-)
posted by nofundy at 10:27 AM on March 25, 2005

Awesome linkage
posted by growabrain at 10:49 AM on March 25, 2005

What, no "Crew Slut"?
posted by jonmc at 10:51 AM on March 25, 2005

or "Catholic Girls"?
posted by jonmc at 10:53 AM on March 25, 2005

What, no "Crew Slut"?

But I don't WANT to be exposed to Telefunken-u47!
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:53 AM on March 25, 2005

Thanks for the link, Kevin. The style almost reminded me of The Gus's artwork.

Just to piggyback on the Zappa topic, yesterday I stumbled across this page containing mp3s of Zappa's unreleased album "Chalk Pie".
posted by dhoyt at 11:08 AM on March 25, 2005

Oh my dhoyt, thanks so much for that. My iPod runneth over!

I was trying to pad my post with additional links to art inspired by other musicians but only found:

Art inspired by the Moody Blues
Art inspired by Stevie Nicks (previously on MeFi)
Art inspired by Alanis Morrisette

I'll opt for the Zappa stuff myself.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:32 AM on March 25, 2005

I guess we can now change the quotation to say "painting about music is like dancing about architecture." Honestly, I like FZ very much--first LP I ever bought with my own money was Freak Out! and I like (in general) low-brow art. But I thought the artwork was crap. Granted, a video monitor is no substitute for the real thing, but I found very little to interest me in these paintings. Contrary to the 1965 slam on FZ, I think that this artwork is solely about Commercial Potential. Good on 'em if they sell, but not for me.
posted by beelzbubba at 11:37 AM on March 25, 2005

Fair enough Beelzbubba. Eye of the beholder and all that. There are a couple that, to me, are borderline highschool art class worthy but the rest really appeal to me. I've always admired vivid colors and clean lines.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:44 AM on March 25, 2005

Oh my dhoyt, thanks so much for that. My iPod runneth over!

Yes, thanks.
posted by fixedgear at 11:51 AM on March 25, 2005

Then there was Bill Frisell, who formed a touring band to play songs from his album inspired by Gerhard Richter's art.
posted by dhoyt at 11:54 AM on March 25, 2005

yes! awesome post.
posted by Malachi Constant at 12:28 PM on March 25, 2005

Where's "the pigmy pony over by the dental floss bush"?
posted by Julie at 12:58 PM on March 25, 2005

And there's also get-well-art by Joel Washington , inspired by and featuring Zappa. Joel's art is vibrant and psych, inspired by the musical artists he portrays...
posted by esinclai at 1:04 PM on March 25, 2005