"The Golden God (Robert Plant)

One of my favorite parts of painting rock n roll is it has transformed me into somewhat of a historian. I don’t just paint this subject matter, it is a major part of my everyday life in the form of reading biographies, documentaries, articles, etc. The stories behind these iconic performers are just as inspiring to me as the songs they sing or the clothes they wear. This piece was born from one of the stories in Zeppelin’s lore.  

In 1975 during Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti tour, at a birthday party for their iconic drummer “Bonzo” - Robert Plant stepped out on the balcony of the Continental Hyatt house (known those days the “Riot house”) on the Sunset Strip, held his arms wide and proclaimed to streets below that he was a “Golden God”. 

This act would forever be cemented rock history as a sample of the indulgence and even the ridiculousness of a touring band in that era. The story has been borrowed many times over the years and even found its way into Cameron Crowe’s epic 70’s coming of age movie Almost Famous

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.