In Memoriam: Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley

Kurt Cobain (inks on bristol / 2011)

Grunge music will always have a lasting memory and place in my spirit.  I grew up listening to Alice and Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and the rest of the Seattle movement of the early 90's which harnessed the angst and deep emotional turmoil of a lost generation.  For a brief five or six years, these bands made records which are timeless to me and a lot of the people I grew up with.  It was a very brief glimmer of a rebellious, anti-corporate movement which dampened with the death of legend Kurt Cobain on today's date in 1994 at the age of 27.  A few years past the end of the grunge fever, downward-spiraling Alice in Chains front man Layne Staley succumbed to his addictions on the same date, April 5th- eight years later in 2002.

Layne Staley (inks on bristol / 2008)

My memories of hearing about the death of both of these icons will always break my heart.  Two musicians who moved and spoke to an entire generation and turned a local sound into a world-wide phenomenon died young and without a friend close enough to stop their demise.  Both bodies were discovered some time after their deaths (Cobain's three days and Staley's two weeks.)  I'll leave the commentary once again today to Joebot over at Rock Star Martyr, who is borrowing my portrait of Layne Staley from my 2009 Cult of Personality series as well as this new portrait finished this week of Kurt Cobain. 

Here's a couple of shots of the process of creating my Kurt Cobain portrait with the shotgun shell halo...

[Click here for more on my Cult of Personality Series]

[Click here for more of my portraits for Rock Star Martyr!]