Def Leppard’s Rick Allen unveils his poignant painting of Steve Clark
Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen has revealed his completed painting of his late band mate Steve Clark.
The multi-talented Sheffield rocker completed the portrait of Steve over the festive period, which is part of his ‘Legends’ series of paintings that is also set to include John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.
Rick shared a photo of the painting on Instagram at the Wentworth Gallery in Short Hills, New Jersey where it will go on display tomorrow (13th January) before moving on to the King of Prussia in Pennsylvania on Sunday (14th January) as part of his ‘Art To Wear’ jewellery exhibition and ‘Drums For Peace’ art exhibition.
> “The Legends piece is a way for me to celebrate my Love for Steve... working on the piece was a spiritual journey that uncovered my gratitude for having known him”??❤️? #rickallen #steveclark #leadwithlove #defleppard #wentworthgallery > > A post shared by Rick Allen (@rickallenlive) on Jan 8, 2018 at 8:35am PST
He captioned the photo: “The Legends piece is a way for me to celebrate my Love for Steve... working on the piece was a spiritual journey that uncovered my gratitude for having known him.”
Speaking to NJ Arts about the portrait of Steve, Rick said: “It was so important for me to capture the essence of Steve, and I didn’t want to mess that up, because I will always remember his face in a certain way.
“I work with photographs and I changed the contrast so that I could capture his essence. My work is very posterized because of the way that I paint. I can’t really do realism. But when I posterize things, I can really capture something.
“It was a great learning tool in trying to capture Steve’s face and to get it right. I do feel that the end result was fantastic.”
Rick also explained that Steve’s mother broke down in tears when she first saw the portrait: “I actually took a snapshot of Steve’s piece and sent it to my mother. She still keeps in touch with Steve’s family and took the picture up there to show it to his mum and dad. She said his mum had tears rolling down her cheeks.
“It wasn’t that I wanted to make her sad or anything, it was more me paying homage to her son, one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever known.”
Steve Clark died on 8th January 1991 aged just 30.
> Almost finished??? #steveclark #rickallen > > A post shared by Rick Allen (@rickallenlive) on Dec 15, 2017 at 9:19pm PST
> This photo shows my process a little better #rickallen #steveclark #leadwithlove #defleppard > > A post shared by Rick Allen (@rickallenlive) on Dec 19, 2017 at 8:41pm PST