Discover the early artwork of Frank Zappa
While we primarily remember Frank Zappa for his non-conformist approach to music, he was far more than that. Given Zappa’s eternal confrontation of the avant-garde, it may be no surprise to learn that he had been a promising artist in his youth. Before his music career took off, he had won several competitions for his drawings and paintings.
Discussing how he first became interested in music composition, Zappa once said: “I had some basic interests in art, and since I was a kid, I was able to draw things. So I saw a piece of music, and I drew a piece of music. I had no idea what it would sound like or what was going on in it, but I knew what an eighth note looked like – I didn’t know it was an eighth note.”
He added: “I started drawing music, and that was it. I struggled and got somebody to plunk it out on the piano to hear what it sounded like. And I said, ‘Well, is that all there is to it? You just draw it, and somebody plays it for you. That’s great.’ That’s how I started.” It’s fascinating when someone claims to be able to hear art or see music, and Zappa is one of those fortunate few.
Evidently, Zappa held an interest in art before beginning to consider the prospect of becoming a professional musician. In The Real Frank Zappa Book, Zappa notes: “The most important thing in art is the frame. For painting, literally, for other arts, figuratively – because, without this humble appliance, you can know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a ‘box’ around it; otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?”
As an adolescent, Zappa wound up winning a poster competition hosted by the California Division of Forestry. However, even before that, he had worked tirelessly on his artwork, spending lengthy periods of time drawing and sketching the many wonders of a young man’s imagination.
In fact, Zappa would use his illustrations to amuse his younger sister, Candy, showing her his crazy conceptions. Zappa won a further contest just a few years after the poster competition. This time it was a state-wide competition hosted by the California Federation of Women, and Zappa took the top prize for his painting’ Family Room’.
Despite his talent in art, the call for a career in music was too strong, and by the age of 17, Zappa had begun playing in a band under the name of the Blackouts. His notion of ‘seeing music’ had been replaced by actively seeking an understanding of it, and he began learning how to compose correctly. Eventually, Zappa would become the musician that we know and love today.
Check out some of Zappa’s early artwork below.
