Limited Edition Print Series
with Frame & Kesey Collectable
The Magic Bus by Suchiu Art is an ultra-rare painting and limited edition print series featuring a handful of influential icons of the hippy movement, particularly spanning the years between 1960-1970. From right to left, you will find: Andy Warhol, Jimi Hendrix, Timothy Leary, Jack Nicholson, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Ken Kesey, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia.
Capturing realism and surrealism in a single image, Suchiu depicts a scene he has reimagined from the true events that defined the culture of this time, such as: the bus Further, Woodstock, the Grateful Dead, the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test tours, The Factory of Andy Warhol and so much more.
To make this spectacular limited edition print series even better, Suchiu has also worked directly with Ken Kesey’s son Zane to obtain the toy models of Further he has hand-painted. Every limited edition print is produced on the highest-quality cotton rag stock paper, encased in a beautiful, archival, museum-quality frame. All Suchiu Art is framed in-house under the scrutiny of the artist and master framer to achieve the highest caliber of quality presently available on the market.
CAD $695Add to cart
Specifications
- The Magic Bus oil painting printed on high-quality cotton rag stock paper
- Museum quality frame, mats, and glass
- Dye-cast model Further created by Zane Kesey
- Hand-signed and numbered by the artist
- Extremely restricted production of only 100 limited edition prints
- Print Size: 18” (L) x 24” (W)
* Certificate of authenticity included
CAD $750Add to cart
Specifications
- The Magic Bus oil painting printed on high-quality cotton rag stock paper
- Museum quality frame, mats, and glass
- Dye-cast model Further created by Zane Kesey
- Hand-signed and numbered by the artist
- Extremely restricted production of only 10 limited edition prints
- Print Size: 18” (L) x 24” (W)
* Certificate of authenticity included
CAD $995Add to cart
Specifications
- The Magic Bus oil painting printed on high-quality cotton rag stock paper
- Museum quality frame, mats, and glass
- Dye-cast model Further created by Zane Kesey
- Hand-signed and numbered by the artist
- Extremely restricted production of only 5 limited edition prints
- Print Size: 18” (L) x 24” (W)
* Certificate of authenticity included
The Stories of Our Weary Travelers
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was one of Ken Kesey’s very good friends, which is why you can see that he is reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. What made Warhol so well-known was not just his art, but the parties he would throw at the Factory. As a creative mind, he would often indulge in psychedelics which made him fit in with this group of people like a glove. Nonetheless, Suchiu has depicted him as standing off to the side because of his indirect role with Further and all it represents.
Jimi Hendrix
Along with Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison we know Jimi Hendrix as one of the profound but unfortunate members of what has been coined “The 27 Club”.
As we know, Hendrix was never seen with an acoustic guitar, only electric. Nonetheless if you look closely, you will see that he is, in fact, playing an acoustic guitar, and one with a Detroit Red Wings symbol on it. Why is this?
Hendrix was a left-handed guitar player, so if he were to borrow a guitar from somebody they would also have to be left-handed. On his behalf, Suchiu ‘borrowed’ Paul McCartney’s guitar for Hendrix to play in this scene as they were both left-handed guitar players.
After the Beatles, McCartney had a band called Paul McCartney and the Wings. A fan from Detroit sent McCartney a Detroit Red Wings’ sticker in theme with the name of his band. Of course, McCartney slapped the sticker on his guitar, but it is said he was unaware that the logo represented a hockey team.
Timothy Leary
Of course, this painting would be incomplete if Timothy Leary did not have a designated seat around the fire. Known as the Godfather of the Hippie Movement, the American psychologist and University Professor dedicated his life and career to understanding the effects of psychedelics and how this substance could alter human consciousness. Suchiu felt the painting would simply be wrong if it didn’t include Leary as such a prominent figure of psychedelic experiments.
Jack Nicholson
As you can see, Jack Nicholson is the only one on the bus. You may be wondering why that is. In the 1960s-1970s and to this day, the term “on the bus” would mean doing your own thing, non-conforming and being a free spirit that is uninhibited by society’s norms. However, to this group of people, if you were “off the bus”, you were a sellout to society, a follower of ‘the man’, a conformist and socially brainwashed.
Suchiu utilizes irony to depict Nicholson “on the bus” because he was never really a part of this culture forged by the others in the painting. The only reason Suchiu chose to include him in this painting is because of his lead role in the movie production of Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Every one else who is ironically “off the bus” in this image are actually the most iconic examples of the free love era and everyone at that time and today would know them as “on the bus” in reality.
Jim Morrison
If any one person in this painting represents being “on the bus” the best, it is most likely Jim Morrison (or at least that is what society would say). While creating this painting, Suchiu did not originally plan to include him in it but, as it often happens when he paints the deceased, he could sense the spirit of Morrison wanting to be included.
He tried to discount Morrison’s spiritual influence until he finally surrendered to his insistence to be a part of the fireside group of ‘on the bussers’. Once the painting was finished, it was without a doubt obvious that Morrison belonged there.
Janis Joplin
In this scene, Janis Joplin is teaching everyone the song “Me and Bobby McGee” that she had, at the time, coming out on her next album. Unfortunately, she was no longer with us when her album was released and made her a superstar, although it is certain that she would always be “on the bus”.
Ken Kesey
Next, we have Ken Kesey. As previously mentioned, Kesey is world-renowned for his mega best seller novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, however there is much more to his story.
In the mid-sixties, Kesey was involved in US government experiments of the very powerful hallucinatory drug LSD which was, believe it or not, legal at the time. It sounds like pure science fiction but the drug was being developed to be given to America’s military leaders to greatly enhance their mind’s creativity and allow them a vast strategic edge in battle.
Kesey felt that the governmental testing was off track, so he decided to head out on his own to prove the drug’s full potential. The first thing he did was gather together a group of his most creative-minded friends, who are now known as the Merry Pranksters.
After heading from San Francisco to New York city and back again, the Merry Pranksters would stop at a pre-planned party at the end of the day, as previously mentioned. These eccentric happenings would become known as the Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests. Many famous creative people joined in on these “parties” as the group made their way from coast to coast. I’m sure you can fill in between the lines as to what happened on this amazing journey.
One of the catch phrases that came out of this trip was “on the bus”. The term is easily explained that if you were truly involved in the freedom movement at the time you were basically against most social rules. So, if you were a rebel of freedom, flower child or as we better know those people as “hippies”, you were “on the bus”. But, if or when you sold out to society or the “man” you would be classed as “off the bus”. You will still hear this phrase being used in similar situations to this day.
Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir
In the far left of the painting we have a very young Jerry Garcia just sitting back and chillaxin’ out to the tunes. Right beside him, on the unplugged electric, is an even younger Bob Weir. Suchiu placed Weir in here at such a young age because, unlike his future musical partner, Jerry, he actually did travel on the magic bus Further. When Weir was only 17 years old he told his parents he was “off to join the circus”. He jumped on the bus to head out for parts unknown and ultimately the music he experienced on this historic trip would lead him into his lifelong career.
We know him today as “the other guy” in the super band we would come to know as The Grateful Dead. Although Garcia seemed to become the most famous member of the band, without Weir’s outstanding input into shaping the band, The Grateful Dead might not have ever made it into the musical big time.
When we began this project, I was searching for the possibility that Further still existed and maybe there would be a chance to get a small part of it that could be framed with the prints.
I quickly came to know that although the bus was still around, the chances of getting a piece of it were very slim to say the least; nonetheless, I did find out that Ken Kesey’s son Zane was willing to work with me on this project by painting these tiny psychedelic-looking busses by hand. He actually calls them “little Furthers”.
Perhaps the most interesting element about these “little Furthers” is the fact that Zane used the same traditional technique to paint them as ‘hippies’ back in the day would use to make tie dye: the way that is speculated his father, Ken, invented.
Going to California from New York, Ken Kesey stopped in San Francisco to try a new clothing experiment. The way people dressed in this time period was also evolving with the culture shock brought on by the hippy movement: fringe jackets, go-go boots, women in bell bottom jeans, etc. But tie-dye wasn’t a thing yet, and if it was, the World was still in the dark about it.
At his San Francisco stop, Ken Kesey dumped buckets of paint into a stream of water then began dipping t-shirts into the stream. When he got to New York City and New Yorkers saw his unique clothing, they immediately raved over this new concept and began to copy it.
Today, the “little Furthers” you see in the framework of The Magic Bus are created exactly the same way by Kesey’s son, Zane. In fact, this method has become so popularized by today’s culture that it has finally received its own name: hydro dipping.
Ronald Suchiu is one of the world′s most unique artists. He masters and blends realistic art with surreal art. He weaves emotions into his paintings with color, reflections and light. He was born to create art.
Suchiu is no stranger with the press having done numerous magazine and newspaper articles, along with TV and Radio shows. He is your true artist, a little quirky, at times abstract in his thinking, his wife says he has several personalities, yet he is very confident with the public, and he somehow always makes you feel like an old friend.
His artwork is collected in over 60 countries worldwide and housed in such notable collections as The Vatican, H.R.M. Queen Elizabeth II, The White House, The U.S. Embassy, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Malta, and President Nelson Mandela has acquired his work.
Such celebrities as Sting, Dan Aykroyd, Eric Burdon, Gordon Lightfoot, Jack Lemmon, Dr. David Suzuki, Dr. Jane Goodall and the Ford Motor Company have all placed their trust in him to deliver world-class paintings.
Want More Info on the Magic Bus?
Enjoy an amazing, free, collectible eBook of the Magic Bus by Suchiu Art. This eBook takes you on an adventure through the life and times of the Merry Pranksters and how each iconic individual in Suchiu’s scene had a role to play in the highly influential Freedom Movement of the 1960s-1970s.
The Magic Bus eBook also explains the artist’s story behind the painting, divulges the top-secret symbolism happening throughout the scene and details the amazing limited edition print and frame packages available for this painting and print series.