Description: TITLE: Liberace and His Mother Had the Rolling Stones to Dinner. The Apes & Miniature Poodles Were Called Out to Entertain (title hand painted in tiny letters across the bottom "lip" of the frame) FOR THE FIRST TIMEOFFERS ON THIS WORK WILL BE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED IN THE 3 GRAND AREA- (WHY? FUNDS NEEDED TO IMROVE MY VICTORIAN HOME/ GALLERY SPACE) I am honored to have thousands of collectors across the globe collect my art. I also have many prominent musicians, actors and actresses who own my work. Julia Roberts, Dennis and Randy Quaid, R.E.M., Trudie and Sting, Susan Sarandon and Jimmy Vaughan are just a few. for more information please see:katabillups.com A NOTE FROM KATA:WHAT MAKES MY ART DIFFERENTFROM OTHER ROCK AND ROLL THEMED ART WORKS? When I initially work on this topic years ago, I entitled the article 'Kata's work versus Other CRAP' but nowadays people are so sensitive to 'shaming and blaming etc.' that I couldn't get away with that title anymore. But the true part about it was this: just about anybody can capture an image of someone from the torso up (a bust it's called) but only trained artists can place a subject in a scene and then a small handful in that group have anything to 'say' with their work. That's where my work comes in- each piece has a message derived from some autobiographic event in my life. Since I was a teenage artist, I was driven to express my ideas through my work. When my rock and roll icon artwork began (in the late 1980's) I was one of the first to be working in this genre (beside the great illustrators for the Rolling Stone Magazine and Andy Warhol and a few others). I hinted at above, and most importantly, all my work 'works' on multiple levels and that is one thing that led to its popularity. My collectors are generally well educated and well-traveled people; (many have been to all the major museums in the world) therefore- they recognize the underlying messages, the parts of my work referencing other works, the wryness or comic insinuations I make in certain pieces etc. etc. and that is why they buy my work. I've heard from collectors again and again saying things like: "I don't even LIKE Elvis, but your work spoke to me, and I bought it". That's because my work is not REALLY about Elvis or the Beatles or anyone- it's about life's larger themes which I feel compelled to make a statement about through the recognizable aging (and some now gone) rock icons. They are my doppelgangers. ARTIST'S DESCRIPTION OF PAINTING : This piece follows a central theme of my rock and roll icon body of work- (which is fame and the odd things surrounding it...) In this scenario from my imagination- The Stones are invited to Dinner at Liberace's Mansion. I looked at photographs of Liberace's mansion to garner inspiration- but the entire setting of the room (the chairs, the painting on the wall behind Liberace, the chandelier, and the folk art style dragon gargoyle chairs) are from my imagination. Liberace's outfit including his baroque shoes and royal red and white cloak is also from my imagination. All the guests are wearing party hats. After dinner is severed Liberace calls out his pets to entertain. Mick is so surprised he leaps from his seat and grasps his chest with laughter. Liberace smiles from ear to ear. Liberace's Mother sits across from her son with a mink stole and an orchid corsage. Charlie Watts sits to the right of Liberace's Mother. A vague luminous Brian Jones is sitting at the far right end of the table. The guests are served steak, asparagus and peas. When Liberace calls his toy poodles and apes to entertain his guests- One poodle hops up on the table holding a tiny guitar. Another poodle arrives on stilts. The apes have clothes on that match Liberace's. The painting is partly autobiographic (as much of my rock and roll icon art is...)- Diner time at our home was always a somber event with my father interrupting any conversation to correct our table manners. "sit up straight!" he barked at one sibling... "stop clicking your fork against your teeth!" he scowled to another... He was a professor and ex-lieutenant. But when I was a teenager my stately Grandmother lived with us for a whileand brought with her some joy and panache. She wore a long Chinese silk house coat that resembled one of Liberace's. We called her "Nana" and she never missed one of Liberace's concerts on T.V. She watched also watched every Perry Mason episode and very episode of As The World Turns. I remember coming home from school one afternoon and Nana was watching Perry Mason and eating her favorite delicacies (pickled asparagus) straight from the jar. Holding the tip of the asparagus between her thumb and forefinger- she'd tilt her head slightly backwards and drop one green stalk into her mouth at a time. One night Liberace had a concert and she invited me to join her. As I sat beside her chair on the shag carpeting- she drew my attention to his extraordinary talent- (noting his grand piano, expensive costumes and long fingers). ...adding that he was not a homosexual (as I assume many people suspected...) Now, back to the STONES... I love this quote by Mick Jagger- (from a Rolling Stone Magazine interview) INTERVIEWER: Where does that come from in you? I mean, you’re writing about “Your mother, she’s an heiress/Owns a block in St. John’s Wood,” but she’s sleeping with the milkman, or something. JAGGER: Yeah, yeah. Well, it was just kind of rich girls’ families – society as you saw it. It’s painted in this naive way in these songs. INTERVIEWER: But at the time to write about stuff like that must have been somewhat daring. JAGGER: I don’t know if it was daring. It just hadn’t been done. Obviously there had been lyric writers that had written stuff much more interesting and sophisticated – say, Noel Coward, who I didn’t really know about. He was someone that your parents knew. The lyricist who was really good at the time was Bob Dylan. Everyone looked up to him as being a kind of guru of lyrics. It’s hard to think of the absolute garbage that pop music really was at the time. And even if you lifted your game by a marginal amount, it really was a lot different from most everything else that had gone before in the 10 years previously. TECHNICAL DETAILS: The image itself is 10" high and 12" across. The solid custom made shadowbox boxed wooded frame is 18" high, 20" across and 2.5" deep I have firmly affixed a vintage porcelain poodle to the bottom edge of the frame and some genuine mink strips to the outside edges of the piece.The matte area is hand-made from an expensive slightly textured wallpaper sample. It is snakeskin design in electric blue.Some very old plastic toy food from the 40's showed up on eBay - so I included it on the frame;painted foods identical to them on the plates in the painting (like asparagus and meat). This piece is ready to hang. I have attached small screw eyes and braided picture wire to the back of the frame.As with all my pieces, this one will be signed (KATA) and dated (2013) by me. CATEGORY OF WORK: This piece is between category 1 and category 2. an entirely hand painted PRIMARY ORIGINAL/ VERSION of my work. The Primary original of this painting sold years ago to a gentleman in Chicago. This piece differs significantly from that piece. The Primary Original did NOT have Brian Jones in it. It also DID not have the same depiction of Mick as this one does. This piece has a much more detailed and realistic depiction of Mick. It also has the pet apes. CATEGORIES OF WORK:(listed in descending order by price and rarity) 1. PRIMARY ORIGINALS These are the most time-consuming, most expensive and generally the largest in scale of my works. They are owned by hundreds of Private Individuals and several Museums worldwide. One Primary Original may take weeks, months or even years to complete. For decades I created an average of five to twenty pieces of this type work per year. I'm taking a break from creating them to build my business and life in new ways. I am not yet sure if I will ever create work in this category again. For updates please check k a t a b i l l u p s . c o m 2. VERSIONS OF WORK These are generally the second most time-consuming and expensive of my works. They are ownedby hundreds of individuals across the world. Each one is an entirely hand-painted VERSION of a Primary Original Painting. They are similar but in no way identical to the PRIMARY ORIGINALS after which they take their inspiration. Within these pieces I've been inspired to rework or add newcharacters, furnishings, backgrounds and colors in ways that never occurred in the PRIMARY ORIGINALS paintings. These pieces may even contain new themes and ideas. I typically devoted one to four months creating each piece (depending on size and complexity). They sometimes (but not always) include unique frames embellished with one-of-a-kind mattes and vintage objects de' artand unusual titles. They are framed in many ways; simply, ornately, etc. They were painted on a variety of surfaces besides just canvas or wood including gallery wrap canvas and small furniture; (both whichrequired no frame). All these works are technically and legally Original Paintings. They are entirely 100% hand painted throughout all the layers applied as the work progressed. I generally created around five to fifteen pieces in this category of work per year. This category of work began in approximately 2004 and ended in 2023. I have around ten to fifteen unfinished pieces within this category in storage and may complete them if I am so inspired in the future. If so, they will be dated the year they are completed. 3. REPLICA ORIGINALS These are typically the third most time consuming type of work (and third most expensive)and are owned by over one thousand people across the globe. There may be over two thousand incirculation. I do not know because I never kept exact records. The demand for them arose when Patrons admired some of my previously sold PRIMARY ORIGINAL pieces and wanted something similar but not as expensive. They are are similar to my VERSIONS of WORK (see category 2. works above) withsome important exceptions. First of all, they are as close to being identical to the PRIMARY ORIGINALS as possible. They have no new creative developments within them (unlike works in category 2.) withthe important exception of the frames which were often elaborately embellished with one-of-a-kindmattes, vintage objects de' art and unusual titles. They are painted on a variety of surfaces (wood,canvas, mirrors, small furniture and other materials). They are hand-painted REPLICAS of some of my favorite PRIMARY ORIGINALS. Each piece is hand painted across the entire surface andmany have additional painting in layers beneath the surface of the top glazes. Each work required atleast a week or several weeks to complete (depending on the size and complexity). They are legally and ethically also Original Paintings in their own right. I began this category of work in approximately 2004. In late 2023 I stopped creating in this category. I have about forty unfinished pieces in this category (in storage) and may complete these works if I am so inspired in the future. If so, they will be dated the year they are completed. 4. SMALL GALLERY WRAP CANVAS REPLICA ORIGINALS This category was created in 2021. I created less than 70 of these and will never create any more. They are similar to my Replica Originals but smaller. For or more on REPLICA ORIGINALS see category3 above. In addition they are created on gallery wrap canvases which are deeper than most average canvases. They're designed to be painted on all four external edges of the canvas (edges which are typically covered by a frame. The idea is for the collector to display the work without a frame and enjoy the unique dimensional effect as the painting 'wraps around' the sides. The artwork may also be displayed 'standing up' on a piece of furniture. Proper hanging apparatus is attached to the back of the canvas. 5. SECOND STYLE REPLICA ORIGINAL PAINTINGS New to the market beginning in 2023 and projected to be my main product going forward, this type of work is similar to my REPLICA ORIGINAL works but less expensive. Like my VERSIONS OF WORK, I've added new elements. This type of work allows endless opportunities to re-express myself (beyondthe original inspiration). I'm adding additional themes and characters to previously created PRIMARY ORIGINAL pieces. Each piece is first printed on a uniquely light-weight yet strong material using state of the art equipment (for maximum clarity of resolution, color, etc.). I then spend several hoursembellishing the piece with hand painted areas (and attaching one or more vintage objects de' art to theframe. The areas of hand painting make each piece an ORIGINAL work of art technically and legally. 6. SPECIALIZED FRAMED OR MOUNTED PRINTS. When I first offered this category at the inception of my rock and roll icon art work, pieces were typically framed after being mounted on foam core or wood. They generally had many objects de' art attached to the piece using glue and or wire. I also mounted the prints on small pieces of furniture, toys, cigar boxes,mirrors, musical instruments etc. I began with very small embellished framed prints at my first show inNashville TN. in the early 1990's. Originally using tiny photographic prints of my work called proof shots,eventually my work expanded in size. I created and sold hundreds (probably over one thousand) of theseworks. The prints mounted on toys, furniture and other objects during this early time were more rare. Icreated about one hundred of them. These pieces were created only between the years 1993 and 2004.They ranged in size from very small (around 3" x 4" to much larger 16" x 20" or so). 7. 2023 SIGNED PRINTS About twenty five years after beginning my rock and roll icon art business, I stopped creating prints. Around 2004 I wanted all my future collectors to own works more unique and valuable than my prints(which were mainly sold framed and with kitsch objects attached as mentioned above in Category 6).This decision was made even though many early collectors (like Julia Roberts) owned these pieces.For one year only (2023) I produced signed prints one more time. This was in the interim of developing a more affordable new product (see category 5 above). The new product evolved as I began to phase out my older categories of work. This made the remaining work more rare and therefore more expensive and I still wanted any potential collector be able to afford my work so I developed a new product. Whilecreating the new product it seemed good to offer signed prints one last time. Each one was producedon extra heavy card stock paper with a gloss finish using the most expensive state of the art equipment. Each one was signed and dated.
Price: 5772 USD
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
End Time: 2024-10-25T23:13:38.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Artist: Kata Billups
Unit of Sale: Single-Piece Work
Signed: Yes
Date of Creation: 2000-Now
Period: Contemporary (1970 - 2020)
Material: Acrylic
Region of Origin: US
Subject: Animal Head, Costumes, Dancing, Dog, Family, Houses, Humor, Love, Monkeys, Motivational, Musical Bands & Groups, Novelty, Famous Places, Fashion, Food & Drink, Hobbies & Leisure, Celebrities & Musicians
Size Type/Largest Dimension: Medium (Up to 30in.)
Main Color: green, brown, gold, pink, fuscia
Listed By: Artist
Signed?: Signed
Type: Painting
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Painting Surface: Wood
Style: Americana, Assemblage, Avant-garde, Cartoon, Contemporary Art, Experimental, Figurative Art, Modernism, Pop Art, Portraiture, Postmodernism
Original/Reproduction: Original
Features: Kata Billups, Framed, Signed
Production Technique: Acrylic Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
see LIST of artist's FAMOUS COLLECTOPRS!: famous artist
Handmade: Yes
