Graceland as a home is the epitome of the American dream, where the boy Elvis grew up to be “the King” and bought this now-humble seeming mansion for his family and himself to live in and be his giant man cave for his art and his life. I visited first at Christmas, which was Elvis’ favorite holiday, and they had his actual decorations of trees and lights set up all around the house, welcoming you as you enter. The house itself is fantastic, kept exactly as it was when he lived there, and you can feel, like at Sun Records, the incredible energy of the spirit of Elvis and his world still very much alive in this environment, especially with all the energized pilgrims visiting.

I am a huge fan of William Eggleston and his work, and he created a portfolio of Graceland images I resisted looking at too much before taking images there and painting them, but like him, wanting to draw out the Americana of the place. But I also wanted to get to the feeling, the emotions of the genius of Elvis, and listened to his whole catalog while painting this image, ending on his transcendent gospel songs. Like Michelangelo (if I could possibly compare the two?), Elvis embraced both the sacred and the profane in his life and music, and I hope to possibly capture this in this work.