The Big Huerta Canvasses the Town With Brian Wilson (and brushes the backdrop)

Brian Wilson’s “No Pier Pressure” gets released this week. By the time you have read this, the critics will have praised it or slagged it. I already heard Rolling Stone (what an out of touch artifact and laughable rag that is!) slagged on Brian. This is the same magazine that rates the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an all-time great band!  Respected rock critic Ken Shane, writing in “Pop Dose”, praised “No Pier Pressure” and called it “one of the best album’s of Brian’s solo career” and praised it even further by comparing it favorably to any number of great Beach Boy albums. Mr. Shane is a much more respected musicologist/writer than the college folk at RS. So folks, whatever side your bread’s buttered…me, I know I will dig it on a few levels. First off, it’s new music from Brian and I dig hearing those trademark soaring harmonies from the master. Unfortunately, once he has left us, the only ones left doing this will be the pretenders. It’s like if you ever saw Muhammad Ali box in his prime and then watch the parade of clowns that are in the ring these days. It just isn’t the same, not even close. Anyways, you guys are all schooled on everything Wilson, so I will just get to the art, for isn’t that what you are all here for? Uh-huh!

I painted this way back in 2009 and named it “Time to Get Alone” from 20/20. This is the biggest canvas that I have ever attempted (roughly 3’ x 4’ w/ a beautiful Spanish oak wood frame) and why not? This is one of the biggest dudes out there! It starts in the orange crate-ville of Southern California, home of Capitol Records, where water, sunshine and gorgeous girls means fun, fun, fun! I did not paint these images in any particular order but one can see a Santa Monica Civic era Brian already being carried away by the twister like forces of fame and fortune. He has that strange look on his face like he is enjoying it all but is deathly scared also. The sacred heart is a sign of Brian’s future sacrificial sainthood and his betrayal by one of his own excitation picking up band member who shall remain nameless! There is also the surfing 1976 era bathrobe wearing Brian standing in a California desert with angel wings, nowhere near any water. There is also the newer era Brian looking wistfully into a possible tomb?? Followed by the Pet Sounds studious, spectacled Brian, focused, sharp, at the top of his game. There is also the teacher that is at the recording mic, silently preaching to his band mates, to respect the music in this (complete with stained glass) hallowed hall of the recording studio. The last image of Brian is very 2001 A Space Odyssey style monolithic Wilson. Will his music be explored and found by future generations of mankind or even heard by alien life forces? This man will be remembered much like your Mozart and your Beethoven. I have tried to stress that to all that will listen. He is a treasure to all of us that appreciate music. We need to appreciate the man while he is still walking amongst us. It will be a sad day indeed when Brian’s work is done here on earth, then it will really be time to get alone…