Bright-colored paintings collide with the onset of night and pieces with cool color palettes seem to complement the newfound dark. Madonna and Buddha hold court near the koi fish and tigers on Hendrix’s corner of the lawn.
The grass edging nips at the ankles of those who pass by. Most stop, even if just for a moment, to admire the work of Banding Hendrix, an artist who displays his work every First Friday in front of Lawn Gnome Publishing, located at Fifth and Garfield streets. He is known to many simply as Hendrix.
The sound of a pencil gliding across canvas is muted by the live music playing just a few feet from the driveway. That night, he is working on a portrait of Ernest Hemingway for Lawn Gnome’s owner Aaron Hopkins-Johnson.
For the past year, in exchange for setting up in front of the independent used bookstore, Hendrix has painted portraits of literary figures for the shop. The process begins with a pencil sketch and by the end of First Friday, Hendrix presents his finished product to Hopkins-Johnson.
“Hendrix is an artist that has been around for a long time,” Hopkins-Johnson said. “He’s pretty much been one of the first vendors doing this kind of thing and he’s still going at it strong.”
Originally from San Francisco, Hendrix moved to Arizona in 1996 after graduating from high school. He became a full-time artist in 2002 and is currently based in Tempe. Shifting between mediums and styles, from canvas to mural to pop art, his paintings tend to focus on individuals that have influenced both himself and society in a positive way.
“My main idea is to add a sense of comfort and peacefulness in a person’s environment, whether that’s for their office or their home or a gift,” Hendrix said. “My art is mainly based around trying to harmonize the energy within the space.”
Hendrix, a distant cousin of Jimi Hendrix, said the late musician served as an inspiration and muse for his paintings. He continues to travel to Seattle to perform and paint during tribute concerts.
The martial art of Capoeira, a Brazilian form of music, dance and acrobatics, is another important way to gather strength and discipline, Hendrix said, which is also expressed in his art. Hendrix and his friend, Christopher Totter, are training partners at Axe Capoeira in Tempe.
“It’s inspirational to people of his stature and of his ability to just do it and be on the front lines and put your art out there for everybody to judge,” Totter said.
Purchases can be made at any time via Hendrix’s Facebook page, however, on the first Friday of every month, Hendrix can be found near the porch of Lawn Gnome, painting. Hendrix, by choice, only displays his art on First Fridays at Lawn Gnome.
“I believe in galleries, but I believe I am my own gallery,” Hendrix said. “I have enough artwork that I could go to pretty much any building and set up all my art. And so far no gallery has been able to outdo what I can do for myself.”
Contact the author at carolyn.corcoran@asu.edu
