One of the biggest rock stars of my generation wasn’t known for music at all. Anthony Bourdain may not have been known for music, but his charisma and devil may care attitude made him as cool as any lead singer I’ve seen.
I’m not much of a foodie so I was probably a late adopter of Anthony, but as an avid traveler his collection of shows became a guide that Ray and I would use frequently.
For the concept, I wanted to give a nod to the travel aspect of his celebrity, and Paris just seemed to make sense. With his stardom coming from a French restaurant in NYC, to the place of his passing, it just seemed to work, especially with the glass of wine I wanted to portray. For the color palette, I turned to Anthony’s favorite song (reportedly), "Anemone" by the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The melancholy vibe of the song made the greys and blues pop into my head.
As a bonus during the painting of this piece I downloaded a playlist of Anthony’s favorite music, and it was the greatest surprise and one last gift. The list was an unapologetic New York assortment of genres that included Lou Reed, The New York Dolls, Marvin Gaye, Iggy Pop, etc.
