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A long time ago at the Recordbar I went to see the band Hearts of Darkness with Jessica. Hearts of Darkness are a pretty well known and very popular band that make music in the vein of Fela
Kuti…..Afrobeat rhythms played by a big band, like barely fit on the stage big, headed by three female vocalists and Les Izmore. Watching them perform was a great time. All the parts of the band really make it what it is. Most impressive to me was the lead man Les. Coming from a Hip Hop background, Izmore’s participation really showcased his versatility. Talking to him after the show I ended up volunteering to do an album cover for him for an upcoming project he called Heartfelt Anarchy. He sent me the first track, I listened to it, and began to work on this piece with the very simple idea of an explosion, but a “good” one, one that made the space it exploded into more full, kind of like the title he told me, Anarchy but with good intention, Heartfelt.
With time the piece evolved to me, as I was, and still am to a certain extent, thinking about the death of Jon Sims. I sometimes sit and think about him, his talent and his plight, his life and his death, and something always sticks with me…. Chris relayed a story about how before Jon died he was with his Dad, asking questions until the end. “What is going to happen, Where am going to go?” When I think of this I am full of hope that he experienced something transcendent as he passed on to wherever, something worthy to be called the end of his life, an actual event. So I began to imagine what I refer to as “a painter’s death’.

I’ve always imaginedsome sort of explosion of colors and forms with a central point that viewer is receding into, as if the forms and various colors are rushing past them, cloaking them in memories from the past that held by these colors and forms as sort of visual abbreviation to the most important experiences of their life. And that began a series of paintings I’m still working on now.
So anyways, recently the album was finished. And it is great, I saw him perform some of the tracks live at record bar recently and left impressed.

for the record though, I did NOT do the lettering. If you have a chance try and get a copy or check him on the interweb. Heartfeltanarchy.com

The print for the show turned out well. Thanks to the homies at Tree and Leaf for the oppurtunity. The show went great!

Got to paint with a bunch of people I do not see that often while I was in OKC. Good times but it was a little cold.

A good portion of these pics were stolen from the homies over at highongold.com. I also finally started an Instagram if you are into that kind of thing @jakebson