ART SPOTLIGHT
BY ADAM MOORE
Lou Yanez may seem like your ordinary guy
– he’s a family man living just outside of New
York City, working as a civil servant for the
Federal Government to pay the bills. But
after spending decades of his life involved in
music – from playing in bands to community
theatre productions – Lou began painting
acoustic guitars. And not just different colors, but with scenes from classic rock’s past,
blending artist images with album covers
and radical ‘60s psychedelica. The Beatles,
Hendrix and the Grateful Dead are a small
selection of the artists adorning the tops of
these musical canvases.
His unique hobby began in 2002, when
he was creating miniature replicas of guitars. According to Lou, the first miniature,
completely detailed guitars were originally
conceived for use in puppetry but came out
better than expected. He began to get compliments and requests from people who saw
his work, and his shift to painting acoustics
developed from there.
He had his first big break as an guitar artist when he was approached by Godfrey
Townsend, a New York guitarist working with
Alan Parsons on A Walk Down Abbey
Road, a touring tribute to the Beatles.
The show featured an impressive roster
of musicians, including Todd Rundgren
and Denny Laine.
“He had six Gibson acoustic guitars, and
he asked me if I’d be interested in painting them,” Lou recounts. “Someone else
was supposed to paint them, but it turned
out the guy he chose wasn’t too reliable,
and [Godfrey] needed someone else to do
it. He initially asked me if I could do three
of them. So I did three and the guy did
one, although it didn’t turn out too well,
so he gave me the remaining two to do.”
Those first five guitars – three of them
displaying Beatle themes, one with the
show’s logo and the last with a Pink Floyd
motif – would turn out to be used in the
show, showcasing Lou’s skills. “I have pictures of Todd Rundgren, Denny Laine and
Alan Parsons all playing these guitars on
stage,” Lou says with enthusiasm.
