Steve Justice Studio

Art - Design

Revolution Number 4 (or Eight Hooves to Hold Me)

Steve Justice Painting Title: Revolution Number 4 (or Eight Hooves to Hold Me) Material: oil on canvas Size: 36x36 Year: 2015 “I think people who truly live a life in music are telling the world, ‘You can have my love, you can have my smiles.’ Forget the bad parts, you don’t need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it’s the very best, and it’s the part I give most willingly.” I became conscious of the Beatles when I was 9 after hearing their song “We Can Work It Out” on television -- until then, I didn’t know music was allowed to sound like that. I have always felt a kinship with their 20% partner George Harrison, with his work ethic, mysticism and quiet inspiration. Rich, famous, young and bored, he explored Imperial England’s oriental backwash and discovered the sitar, and introduced Eastern music to the West. I compressed my original sketch into a square format to suggest album art of the day. (Think of “Rubber Soul”.) As with almost all of my paintings, I had few preconceptions about the colors which, along with mood and some of the imagery, were inspired by a visit to India and from classical Indian storybook illustrations. Over that I layered references to the Cavern Club (actual graffiti), to Abbey Road (crosswalk stripes), to Sergeant Pepper (colored horses) etc. The subtitle, “Eight Hooves to Hold Me”, refers to the movie “Help!”s subtitle, “Eight Arms to Hold Me”.Title: Revolution Number 4 (or Eight Hooves to Hold Me)
Material: oil on canvas
Size: 36×36
Year: 2015

“I think people who truly live a life in music are telling the world, ‘You can have my love, you can have my smiles.’ Forget the bad parts, you don’t need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it’s the very best, and it’s the part I give most willingly.” –George Harrison

I became conscious of the Beatles when I was 9 after hearing their song “We Can Work It Out” on television — until then, I didn’t know music was allowed to sound like that. I have always felt a kinship with their 20% partner George Harrison, with his work ethic, mysticism and quiet inspiration. Rich, famous, young and bored, he explored Imperial England’s oriental backwash and discovered the sitar, and introduced Eastern music to the West. I compressed my original sketch into a square format to suggest album art of the day. (Think of “Rubber Soul”.) As with almost all of my paintings, I had few preconceptions about the colors which, along with mood and some of the imagery, were inspired by a visit to India and from classical Indian storybook illustrations. Over that I layered references to the Cavern Club (actual graffiti), to Abbey Road (crosswalk stripes), to Sergeant Pepper (colored horses) etc. The subtitle, “Eight Hooves to Hold Me”, refers to the movie “Help!”s subtitle, “Eight Arms to Hold Me”.