Black Panther artist's painting of jazz legend John Coltrane catches eye of Spike Lee
Sitting in the window of the Artfunk gallery on Jackson Street in San Francisco is a painting of jazz legend John Coltrane. While most people walking by will see the image of a great musician, Archbishop Franzo King sees something more divine.
"When I see this painting, I see God," said King.
He and his wife, Reverend Mother Marina King, founded the Saint John Coltrane Church in 1969. The church based on the music of Coltrane and his iconic album A Love Supreme, that is played in four parts: Part 1: Acknowledgement, Part 2: Resolution, Part 3: Pursuance, Part 4: "Psalm.
"I'm thanking God for that uncompromising revolutionary that we know to be Jesus, the Christ of God, the uncompromising revolutionary that spoke to power through man," said King while preaching to his Sunday congregation.
Today, services for the Coltrane Church are held every Sunday inside the Magic Theater in Fort Mason. For more than five decades, the church has moved from location to location throughout the city, but now they are hoping they have found a permanent home at the current spot.
"This church has been like a gypsy movement," said King. "We want to find a home, because if you are going to leave something to a generation, you got to at least have somewhere to sit, somewhere to stand, somewhere to be."
That was when longtime San Francisco artist and photographer Peter Shaw came up with an idea, by taking the original painting of John Coltrane and turning it into a fundraiser for the Church and their Coltrane Arts Foundation.
"We have recently made a limited edition of 20, with four artist proofs of this original Coltrane work," said Shaw.
It was enough to get the attention of film director Spike Lee, who paid Shaw and the Kings a visit while on a trip to San Francisco.
"So Spike came by and saw it," said King. "And Spike Lee wanted to buy the original, and we said, 'No, we are not selling it.'"
The original piece of art was painted in 1972 by Emory Douglas, who was the Minister of Culture and Revolutionary Artist for the Black Panther Party. It was gifted to the St. John Coltrane Church by Douglas and Black Panther Party co-founder and chairman Huey P. Newton.
"It took us from another level having it being painted by Emory Douglas, who it he vanguard artist of this time in this decade," said King. "His art was really, as I knew it, it was about revolution and change."
A change they hope will become the manifestation of a painting into a permanent home through the sound and image of A Love Supreme.
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