Your Black World Reports:
Micheal Jackson’s legacy will continue to live on through his music, but also through his art collection.
Last week, LA Weekly was given access to Jackson's top-secret art studio, and for the first time, the King of Pop's talent was revealed in all its glory.
Hidden in a Santa Monica airport hangar, all the art is Jackson's original work. It has been speculated that it's worth an estimated $900 million, with art aficionados from around the world hoping to own the most intimate peek into the mind of Michael Jackson the world will ever see.
The art is currently owned by Brett-Livingstone Strong, Jackson's business partner and art mentor, who claims that Michael never wanted his passion to be a secret:
“A lot of his art was going to be exhibited 18 years ago. Here’s one of his tour books, where he talks about exhibiting art. He didn’t want it to be a secret,” said Strong.
Revealed in the Santa Monica, CA studio is Jackson's love for chairs and the number 7 --- the former because he considered chairs the place where people make all their decisions and the latter because he was the seventh child of Katherine and Joe Jackson. There is also an incomplete series on U.S. presidents, and a sketch of Paul McCartney.
Jackson allegedly was in talks to collaborate with Walt Disney, Co. and sale his art as a fundraiser for various charities, but due to the pedophilia scandal, the plans were abruptly cancelled.
“His interest in art, in drawing it, was just another level of his creativity that went on over a long period of time,” says Strong. “It was quite private to him. I think he retreated into it when he was being attacked by those accusations against him.”
Unfortunately, that artwork was allowed to collect dust in secret for nearly two decades as Jackson remained negatively in the public eye until his death.
Until now.
Ideas for an interactive exhibit for fans and art-lovers alike to experience Michael like never before are being hammered out, and an exhibit of Jackson's artwork is tentatively planned to be shown at L.A.'s City Hall. There are an estimated 160 original pieces art.
In early August, Jackson’s mother and his three children, Prince Micheal, Paris, and Blanket presented 13 portraits---several of them autographed---to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reported that, “Artist Brett Livingstone-Strong, a close friend who Jackson once called a 'modern-day Michelangelo,' offered to donate the pieces to the hospital.” Several of the drawings were of Mickey Mouse, furniture, and other objects. Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, hospital CEO Richard Cordova and trustee Mary Hart were also present at the unveiling.
