EVOL I
Although this piece is inspired by Ronnie James Dio, the original concept really wasn’t focused on him in particular. The original idea came to me while thinking about symbols or gestures that have come to exemplify rock n’ roll. A few different ideas came to mind (some may even make it to canvas), but one gesture above all found its way into my mind’s eye. The symbol, first popularized by Dio, is known as the “Devil horns”, which quickly became the universal salute to heavy rock n’ roll and has since been adopted by almost every genre of music.
Ronnie James Dio often told the story of how he came to gift us this grand salute. His Grandmother would often throw the gesture (Melocchio) at people who gave her the “evil eye”, believing that it would render the negative connotation powerless. It was here that my title was conceived, and with a little word play, the title spelled backwards perfectly illustrates my feeling for the subject matter that most of my catalog represents.