Sky Jones: Major Impact
- Page 1 of 2
Sky Jones is felt by many to be a National Treasure. Some have said that he should be a federally funded program. In short, he has been a great influence on other artists, Hollywood, Wall Street and the American Culture. Some of his accomplishments are now legends.
Living a humble life, Sky Jones is nomadic by nature. He lives periodically without utilities to "naturalize" and return to a "prime" (primitive) state with the environment. From 1976 on, he has had no bank accounts, credit cards, or bills. He uses art as a currency to barter with to live.
From riding freight trains coast to coast, sleeping in hobo jungles, and eating in soup kitchens, to living in mansions and dining with Hollywood Stars. Sky has seen America.
Sky has worked from migrant farm labor and slopping pigs in Monterey, to being a finished carpenter in Los Angeles City Hall. He has spent thousands of hours working with the homeless on art related projects. He appreciates the importance of recycling people and things. As a result of his experience, Sky Jones makes insightful social commentary with his art projects.
But for a likable guy out west, things have not always been easy. Sky says he was baptized and anointed as a genuine cowboy one cool day in autumn when he fell and was submerged in a wet steamy cow manure collection tank. Sky states: "From that point on, I've been the real thing".
Sky has milked a lot of cows. He claims his song "Cow Milking Blues" is one of the few real cowboy songs.
Sky has owned many horses and has studied horse anatomy. He carried a mummified mule out of the Grand Canyon on his back. He dissected, cleaned and reassembled it to study its structure. When we look at his art, we see real experience talking.
In the '60's and 70's, Sky studied under an impressive list of artists. Two are: the famous Italian sculptor Angelo Caravaglia (1967-71) and the well known English portrait painter of nobility, Sir. Alvin Gittins (1969-71)(1977-78).
By 1974-75, he was in Boston painting portraits of dignitaries and local celebrities including Governor Michael Dukakis and sports stars from the New England Patriots, the Boston Bruins and the N.Y. Jets.
Sky's art is in the collections of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the great Lucille Ball, Ernst Bourgnine, dozens of museums and hundreds of corporations.
Sky hit the world like a flaming thunderbolt when in competition with 25 of Hollywood's best artists, his art was chosen for the poster of "Meteor", a 1978 Sean Connery and Natalie Wood film. Sky quips, "They chose mine because it was meatier." "It was a sizzler." The truth is that Sky's meteor had more impact.
When "Star Trek I, The Movie" was released, Sky Jones contributed his famous "inter-dimensional worm hole" painting to the promo campaign. TV Guide Illustrations and many other movie posters followed.
Painting under the name of Michael R. Whipple, by 1984 books and limited edition prints ("Images of Paradise", 1980) had exploded into the worldwide market place. At the peak of this success, the Beverly Hills Gallery was flooded with phone calls and everyone knew who Michael R. Whipple was. At this point, "the Whip", ignoring success, reinvented and redefined himself as Mr. Sky Jones.
As artists are prone to do and with great peace of mind, Sky Jones went into seclusion from 1984 to 1994 to meditate and continue painting. As "Meteor" has predicted there would soon be a major impact. History was being made.
