"No. 9" (Tongue & Lips / Stones)

"I’ve often felt that to truly understand me and my art, one would have to experience The Rolling Stones live. For this reason, I was incredibly excited to get tickets for Ray to see her first Stones show in April of 2020. We all know that never happened. While we all hunkered down and waited for the world to return to normal, the Stones lost legendary drummer Charlie Watts. This instilled an extra sense of urgency to make sure I could see them one more time and that Ray could experience first hand the band that has shaped so much of my life. In 2022, when they announced the 50th anniversary show at historic Hyde Park, we jumped at the chance.  

Upon returning from London, I knew I wanted to capture the monumental journey in a new piece. During the weekend trip we visited their flagship store at No.9 Carnaby Street a few times. It was at this flagship store that I conceptualized this piece. As coincidences often seem to do with my art, I had previously done eight paintings that we’re inspired by the Stones…this was No.9"- Stickman

About Stickman

Trevor "Stickman" Stickel specializes in musically based portraits that capture legendary moments, powerful ideas and raw emotion. His work is described as gritty-yet-fresh, complex-yet-simple. Graduating from a Jekyll and Hyde influence early in his career in which he divided his time between family portraits and design work on helmets and Harleys - Trevor had the epiphany to combine both styles while reading "According to the Rolling Stones". Two weeks later he finished his first canvas portrait of Mick Jagger that would thrust him into a different realm of the art world an aptly titled it "Please allow me to introduce myself."

The Mission

The idea or "mission" behind my artwork was to create an artistic tribute to something (music) and to the people (musicians) that have had a tremendous impact on me and basically shaped my world. Historically these tributes have been limited to photos/posters that have adorned the bedroom walls of teenagers and dorm rooms throughout adolescence. I wanted to create a style of art that brings these iconic figures back into our life, and do so in manner that we as adults can display proudly in our homes. When planning a piece I often imagine how the finished piece would look in a contemporary living room, dining room, lounge, etc.

The Concept

In order to achieve the mission stated above as well as explore my creative and artistic side, the idea of amalgamating different artistic disciplines on the same canvas was born. The concept is to take my portrait realism and juxtapose it with a background that expresses my feeling and emotions of the subject I'm painting. This method also allows me to explore other disciplines of art - many of my backgrounds will include Abstract, Expressionism, Impressionism, Realism, Pop Art, Street Art, Surrealism and quite often a combination of these. This is where I get to enjoy the artistic side of these pieces as well as paying additional homage to some of my favorite visual artists. My work is a true collaboration of music and art where I take a very influential subject matter and combine it with inspiration from artists such as Warhol, Bansky, Basquiat and Pollock to name just a few.