David Lee Roth has shared a new piece of original artwork which was inspired by the COVID-19 crisis.
For most of the last year, the VAN HALEN singer has been posting paintings on his Twitter account that reflect the times and channel the mass anxiety around the novel coronavirus. His latest work of art is commentary on the news that COVID-19 vaccines are starting to be given to the public.
“The first of the two vaccines launched in the winter of ’21,” a message in the painting reads. “We knew two things for sure First: We couldn’t stop the virus from coming. Second: We could damn well arrange for it to limp home. Everyone volunteered..”
This is not the first time Roth has shared some of his visual art with the public. Back in 2009, Roth released dozens of his own drawings and artwork, which he called at the time “authentic originals and incompetent imitations.” He offered them up as “an official answer to the question ‘what do you do in your spare time?'”
According to the Van Halen News Desk, the VAN HALEN frontman always been into art. Throughout his whole life, while touring the world, you could find him doodling on just about anything — setlists, tour riders, female body parts, etc. He was always a major part of the visual side of VAN HALEN, and always tried to make the stage show “look like the music sounds.” He designed stage clothes, orchestrated photo shoots, came up with the stage choreography, etc. He also had a hand in designing VAN HALEN‘s early tourbooks and a few of their t-shirts.
Last March, Roth postponed the final six shows of his Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Roth performed as the opening act for the February/March 2020 North American leg of KISS‘s “End Of The Road” farewell tour.
VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen died of cancer in October at age 65.
Roth, who performed with VAN HALEN for the last time in 2015, tweeted shortly after Eddie‘s death: “What a long great trip it’s been.”
#SoggyBottom #DLR #DavidLeeRoth #DiamondDave pic.twitter.com/0IzlMleCp5
— David Lee Roth (@DavidLeeRoth) January 4, 2021