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If you are looking for something rocking at ArtPrize, a local artist has paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen and the band.
An artist from Bay City, Michigan, by the name of Jason Nuttall is a huge fan of Van Halen and has an entry in to this year’s ArtPrize.
ArtPrize officially kicks off Thursday, September 16, and will wrap up Sunday, October 3. If you don’t know, ArtPrize will have art from local artists
as well as artists from all over the world on display all throughout the city of Grand Rapids and inside many of the local businesses.
Nuttall said, “they were my favorite band growing up, until they fired Sammy Hagar.” Van Halen brought in singer Sammy Hagar after original singer
David Lee Roth left the band. When Hagar joined Van Halen, some referred to that era as “Van Hagar.” Nuttall also noted that their music still means a lot to him.
According to Nuttall’s bio on the ArtPrize website, Jason is a portrait artist, a cartoonist and caricaturist. He says his influence and inspiration comes from comic books,
cartoons, photorealism and impressionism.
If you would like to see Nuttall’s portrait of Van Halen that was inspired by a photo taken by Ross Halfin in 1991, it is hanging at the B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids.
Nuttall said, “they were such an inspiration for me as an artist, as a music lover and as a person. The death of Eddie Van Halen led me to draw this picture to honor the
band that got me into music.”
The Van Halen entry into ArtPrize is not Nuttall’s first time with a picture at the event, he also entered back in 2016 with a tribute to actor Jack Nicholson with a
portrait inspired by the movie Easy Rider that was called “Ridin’ Easy: