It was an honor and a pleasure to have taken part in the unveiling of the new art collection at the Golden State Warrior’s newly opened Chase Center in San Francisco. The Warriors partnered with curators from SFMOMA and Sports and the Arts to bring an amazing array of artwork from all arenas together. I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create a commissioned artwork for this exciting collection. 

My work is an abstract depiction of the San Francisco music culture, with a focus on the San Francisco Sound. The “San Francisco Sound” emerged with the birth of a cultural revolution rooted in 1960’s San Francisco.  

This  free-form, jam-oriented rock sound challenged a complacent society as it broke loose from conventions and forever-changed popular music.  

“Betty Jean” pays tribute to the “San Francisco Sound” through the deconstruction of three visual elements that depict and typify this movement. 

The main element is the use of deconstructed concert posters and tickets from local venues that hosted the top performers of that movement.  The posters included in this piece highlight performances at the Fillmore West and the Avalon by Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead.  

The second and third elements are the deconstructed depiction of a guitar and vinyl records.  

“Betty Jean” was created by ‘constructing and deconstructing’ just as the “San Francisco Sound” was created from the deconstruction of popular American music, resulting in a work that embraces a freedom from predictability.  

This piece is entitled ‘Betty Jean,’ the nickname rock legend Jimi Hendrix gave to his signature Silvertone Danelectro guitar.

Artwork Size: 34” H x 54” W

Medium:  Acrylic, watercolor, graphite, found paper (vintage posters and vintage tickets), silver leaf, marker, pen on paper