#31 La Ballerine

My first guitar picture since January, pretentiously titled in French, even though I don't speak French. The main point of this picture is to indulge my new-found interest in the color pink, and also to demonstrate my new-found technique of using cut up pieces of colored paper in my pictures. The original title was The Pedestal. The dancer is Margot Fonteyn.

The Guitar of 100 Strings

It's that time of year again- no, I don't mean Thanksgiving. I don't mean Christmas or New Year's. I mean it's time to start getting ready for the 2nd annual San Diego Experimental Guitar Show. This year I have been asked to perform as a member of the quartet League of Assholes along with Marcelo Radulovich, Esteban Flores, and Peter Graves. To this end I have been busy in my workshop creating The Guitar of 100 Strings. Here are some photos of the progress so far:
Of course, as of yet, I've only managed to fit 12 strings on there ...88 more to go. I have 23 lined up to be added, but still need 65 more strings. If you happen to change the strings on your guitar anytime in the near future please save the old ones for me. Already Guitar Trader in San Diego, and Bob Jones of Desperation Squad have made contributions to this important work of Sound Art. Here is your chance to be a part of history- donate your old, busted guitar strings to M.J. Stevens today!

#30 Single String Guitar

As my friend Sam Lopez recently pointed out, you only need one string on your guitar to play anything worth playing. That's true. Or, to paraphrase the poet Carl Sandburg, there's only one string in the world, and it's name is All Strings.

#29 Wing

If you study it closely you'll notice that this piece summarizes the topics of Experimental Guitar Art by M.J. Stevens #'s 1-28.

#28 St. Francis vs. Django Reinhardt

In memory of Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson, and Sky Saxon I offer you this link to a video of Bettie Page dancing to an old Seeds record: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQK_86Nk-A

#27 Riding the Bull Home

"Mounting the bull, slowly I return homeward. The voice of my flute intones through the evening. Measuring with hand-beats the pulsating harmony, I direct the endless rhythm. Whoever hears this melody will join me." Zen Flesh, Zen Bones; 10 Bulls

#26 Chromosomica

Blues Theory: Yes, white people can play the Blues sometimes, but when they do it doesn't sound like the Blues- that's how you know it's the Blues when they play it. And women can rock. And when they do it's far superior to what males do. That's what this picture is about.

#25

Number only. No title. There's a story behind it, sure. I set out to do 30 pictures, and I did, from 1 to 30. I didn't realize until I was working on # 30 that I had skipped 25. I was kind of upset because I thought I was done, and I wasn't. So I blew through this one as fast as possible, and it still came out pretty good...

#24 Transfiguracion de Rocket

The Harmony Rocket is one of the best guitars ever. It's got looks, style, and playability. I've had one since the 70's. I was using it for a few months in 'o6 and '07, but it's back in storage now. I'm saving it for the Apocalypse. Painting by El Greco, the perfect setting for this symbol of sonic ascendance.

#23 Well-Formed Summer Cabbage Guitar

Here's some information on cabbages straight off the internet:

General Information
Cabbage is:
Low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol
High in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium, Manganese, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron and Magnesium
The nutritional value and health benefits of cabbage makes it ideal for:
Maintaining optimum health
Weight loss
Don't include too much cabbage in your diet if you're interested in:
Weight gain

#22 Vincent Van Gogh Guitar

All elements in this piece refer to the painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). The photo in the background is the window in Vincent's room at the asylum he stayed at after he cut off his own ear in a fit of erotomania. The hands are from an early sketchbook of his.

#21 Unidentified Flower Guitar

The painting is Wheatfields by Jacob van Ruisdael, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You think these odd painters are going to be obscure and unknown, but they are documented all over the internet- even this Dutch landscape painter from the 1600's. Wikipedia informs us of the following: "During his lifetime, his works were little appreciated, and he seems to have suffered from poverty. In 1681 the sect of the Mennonites, with whom he was connected, petitioned the council of Haarlem for his admission into the almshouse of the town, and there the artist died on the 14th of March 1682."

No Title... #20

Another "no title" here... you know what that means- there's something I don't want to talk about.

#19 Aphrodisiaque

Here's a link to Reader's Digest's list of the top 10 aphrodisiacs:
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/top-10-aphrodisiacs/article57406.html#slide
Included on this list are bananas, avocado, and honey- all foods that I personally consume on a regular basis... ladies?

#18 Birth of Venus

"Then the son (Gaia's son, Cronus) from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away to fall behind him... And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes because she sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, -- the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness." - Hesiod, Theogeny

#17 Golden Fly Guitar

Why six flies? Simple. Because your standard guitar has six strings.

#16 Hair, Ivy, and Chromosomes Guitar

What could be more experimental than a guitar formed of a big hank of dirty, greasy hair? The ivy is just for decoration.

#15 Jacob's Ladder

"Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to the heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." Genesis 28:12

#14 The Nuke

Of all the Experimental Guitar Art this is my least favorite. It's too rectangular. Plus, it's a bomb, and I'm anti-nuke. But I made it, and here it is.

#13 Beehive Guitar

Inspired by my childhood memories from the early 60's of women having Beehive hair-dos. It was a bad idea, though, to try to bring them back, and I'm glad the revival never caught on.

#12 De- Titled

The story behind this piece is very controversial- disturbing to some, even. I thought it best not only to skip the explanation, but to remove even the title so no one is tempted to find out the whole truth.

#11 6-Necked Golden Turnip Guitar

It's true. I just fell off the turnip truck.

#10 Avian Guitar

This one is fairly self-explanatory. It has to do with flight.

#9 Hallucination Number 15

This piece was created in commemoration of a hallucination I had some years ago under the influence of a pain medication while recovering from a hernia operation.

#8 Hommage a' Charlie Christian

Those are Charlie Christian's hands, and a guitar actually used by Charlie Christian.

#7 Ape Man

The most violent of the Experimental Guitar Art pieces. Blood and saliva.

#6 Thanksgiving Guitar, 11/26/09

What were you doing last Thanksgiving? I was making this collage. The Thanksgiving Turkey and two Pilgrims basking on the beach near Plymouth Rock. The majority of images used in these collages come from a pile of books I bought at the Santee Swap Meet for $1 each in early November, 2009. Hopefully they are old and generic enough that no one's copyright sensibilities will be violated. I admit I have been lazy about documenting my sources in most instances.

#5 Non-Titled

No title- just a nest and a few little eggs.

#4 Venus de Milo Guitar

"What secret emotion invades me before the meditated grace of this design! Ineffable passages of light into shadow! Inexpressible splendors of half tones! Nests of love! What marvels that have not yet a name in this sacred body! Venus Genetrix! Venus Victorum! O, total glory of grace and genius!" - Auguste Rodin, writing about the Venus of Melos in the New York Times, December 8, 1912

#3 Triple Flatworm Guitar With Nude Maya by Goya

Not merely a nude, but a portrait. One that happens to be part of a guitar attached to three giant flatworms.

#2 Pelomyxa Carolinensis Guitar W/Parasites

Pelomyxa Carolinensis is also simply known as...Chaos. Really- look it up. In the microbiological world it is not only known as a scavenger, but also as a predator, hunting and killing other living microorganisms- such as the Paramecium.

#1 Paramecia Guitar

"Paramecia are found everywhere in fresh waters and can be obtained in enormous numbers by letting a bit of food decay in pond water... many differences between (a paramecium and an ameba) are at once apparent... most striking of all is the rapid rate at which a paramecium swims about, as compared to the slow creeping of an ameba." -Ralph Buchsbaum, Animals Without Backbones, University of Chicago Press, 1948