Artwork by Bob Stone
Actually, his name wasn’t Bob. And for that matter, his last name wasn’t Stone, either, but that’s what he chose to go by, especially when signing his art. This painting isn’t signed; I’m not sure why.
My brother was a very talented artist, and fairly prolific considering he died at the age of 20. Unfortunately, he was addicted to drugs and sold his work to support his habit. I suppose there are worse things you could sell.
This is one of the few things that my mother managed to keep from his collection. She kept it stored in an unused room, rarely to been seen, like she did with many of her possessions. Several years ago, I asked her for it as my birthday present, and it now sits on a wall in my living room, one of the first things you see when you enter. Sometimes I think I should get it framed, but I really do like it in its raw form.
Robert memorialized the things he loved in his art: race cars, trains, double-decker buses and his idols, like Jimi here, Bootsie Collins and Sly Stone (no relation to us). Right now I’m on the hunt for my favorite of his paintings, one of Sly. I used to stare at it in wonder when Robert still lived with us and kept the painting in his room and, even as a kid, I was saddened when I found out he sold it.
I have only a child’s memory of it, so in some ways the image is hazy, but it was of Sly wearing a large white pimpin’ hat low over one eye in the classic 70s style, and there was a deep red in the painting as well, not as dark as maroon but a little darker than blood red. It might have been the background, but I think it was Sly’s jacket. I’m pretty sure that it was signed, probably in the lower right corner, but I could be making that up. Robert sold it probably sometime in the mid-1970s.
It’s possible that for one of many reasons the painting doesn’t exist, but if this sounds familiar to you, or if you’ve ever seen a painting signed by Bob Stone, please contact me. I would love to see it again, and possibly even find a way to make a reproduction from a digital image. Leave a comment below, click here to submit a longer reply or upload a picture, or email me directly.
