Vincent Pitrelli - Original Art
16" x 20" x 1 1/2" - acrylic paint, oil paint and modeling paste on gallery profile canvas
On October 6th, 2020, the world lost one of the most influential Rock guitarists the world has ever known. Eddie Van Halen, whose razzle-dazzle guitar-playing — combining complex harmonics, innovative fingerings and ingenious devices he patented for his instrument — made him the most influential guitarist of his generation and his band, Van Halen, one of the most popular rock acts of all time!
The song “Eruption,” which is not a joke, not a metaphor, not a double or even single entendre. It’s just a fact. Nor does “Eruption” feel the need to even be a song, really—it is, instead, a baffling and ecstatic 102-second guitar solo, a slow-motion thunderbolt of technical virtuosity (which can’t be faked) and feral joy (which can’t be taught) that marked young Edward Lodewijk Van Halen as the most thrilling electric guitarist of his generation and one of the most beloved and influential guitarists of all time, full stop. “Eruption,” which first appeared on titanic SoCal rock band Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album, is to the dark and radiant art of finger-tapping as the Sistine Chapel is to painting.
This painting is a remembrance of what EVH meant to music and Millions of Rock fans who ran out to buy an electric guitar the second they heard him for the first time.
It is an abstract representation of "The Frankenstrat", also known as "Frankie", a guitar created by Eddie Van Halen. Its name is a portmanteau of Frankenstein, the fictional doctor who created a monster by combining body parts of the recently deceased, and the Stratocaster, a model of electric guitar made by Fender. A copy of the Frankenstrat is housed in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The Frankenstrat which was Van Halen's attempt to combine the sound of a classic Gibson guitar with the physical attributes and tremolo bar functionality of a Fender Stratocaster. It was made from a Northern Ash Stratocaster body, with pickup routing which he modified to fit a Gibson PAF humbucking bridge pickup. The guitar has a maple neck and fretboard, chrome hardware, and was painted with a black and white striped design until arriving at its final combination of red background with black and white stripes. It has six strings and a Floyd Rose tremolo.EVH
