WAIKIKI.- Legendary pop artist Ruby Mazur, best known as the creator of the original mouth & tongue image designed for The Rolling Stones, first used on the Tumbling Dice record sleeve in 1972, is currently celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his iconic image. As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration, Mazur has announced the opening of his own signature
Ruby Mazur Gallery this past week in Waikiki, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The brand new 3,000 square foot Ruby Mazur Gallery is located right next to The Hard Rock Café on Beach Walk in Honolulu, with special grand opening events planned for September.
Mazur himself just wrapped up a series of very successful late June and early July personal appearances at high-profile galleries in Las Vegas, NV and Lake Tahoe. He returned to Maui, where hes lived and painted for the last sixteen years, in time to now christen the new gallery in Honolulu along with his sons Cezanne Mazur and Miro Mazur, who have joined forces with their father as Gallery Directors and will oversee operations.
While Ruby Mazur may be best known for his Mouth & Tongue creations, pop art collectors have long been drawn to his rock-n-roll portraits of many of the top music artists of our time including Freddie Mercury, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Cher, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and so many more.
At his very recent exhibits at the Wyland Gallery in Planet Hollywood and the Signature Gallery in the Venetian Hotel, both in Las Vegas, along with the Wyland Gallery in Lake Tahoe, he unveiled new variations of the Mouth & Tongue original oil on canvas paintings, color prints and special edition giclee prints for the 50th Anniversary. In addition, Mazur made personal appearances actually creating a new mouth & tongue original painting right in each gallery, giving pop art fans a chance to watch the process live.
Of course, hell be on hand at the new Ruby Mazur Gallery on a regular basis once it opens. Mazur had been planning to eventually open his own gallery for years and felt the time was right, in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary and with Cezanne and Miros recent decision to relocate from San Diego and be supportive of their father in this new venture.
The two brothers bring their combined years of experience in high-end marketing and social media promotion to the gallery, teaming with Rubys talent and art world expertise, making this a formidable partnership. Cezanne and Miro grew up exposed to the art world, having been surrounded by art, artists and galleries their entire lives.
Every aspect of the Ruby Mazur Gallery is influenced by rock-n-roll. The friendly, welcoming atmosphere will be enhanced by the musical environment
. with a new state-of-the-art sound system, an in-house DJ, a highly-diverse curated staff of art consultants referred to as rock stars in the gallery, to make people of all races, genders and ages feel comfortable. Each month, the new gallery also plans to host celebrity special guest artists exhibiting their work, many of them actual friends of Mazurs, while also featuring surprise events and intimate performances.
Some highlights of Mazurs work exclusive to the new gallery will include his new six-foot high portrait of Prince, a new series of Mazur designed framed album covers, with hand-painted vinyl on top of the cover, a run of large limited-edition giclee prints of his iconic oil on canvas painting Rock-n-Roll Last Supper and all new variations of the iconic mouth and tongue image he created back in 1972, which has endured over the last 50 years
much like the band he designed it for
with continuous demand from pop art fans and collectors. Ruby Mazur also just announced that, coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the Mouth & Tongue image, this will be the final year he will create new paintings and prints of his famous image, but he will take on commissions from collectors to do new pieces through December 2022.
Last spring he debuted his Rock-n-Roll Last Supper, a massive five by twelve foot oil on canvas that was three years in the making, followed by his all new High-Volume series of paintings, both of which commanded a great deal of national and local media attention.
In that series, he used a new technique developed to convey the concept of hearing and feeling the music through his paintings; using movement, energy, unique brush strokes and extremely vibrant color to almost bring the painting to life. The striking results are what Mazur called his High Volume Pop Art. He immersed himself in this new process, creating High Volume Pop Art images of Prince, Steven Tyler, Elton John, Bruno Mars, Tom Petty and so many more..
Ruby Mazur, raised in New York City, has been living and working in Maui for the last sixteen years and launched his early career in pop art and graphics at age 21as Art Director of Paramount Records. That first year he received a Grammy award nomination for his design on the CrowFoot album cover. Over the past 45 years, his innovative & influential artistry has been displayed in galleries around the world. His outrageous and trend setting designs have since graced over 3,000 album covers for the likes of Elton John, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Van Morrison, Jim Croce Jimmy Buffett, B.B. King and countless others, in addition to movie soundtrack covers including "Love Story", "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", "Malcolm X" and "Lenny Bruce".