Adam Jones of TOOL and Epiphone Unveil Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee,” the Final Guitar in the Adam Jones Art Collection

Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee.”

Download photos, credit: Epiphone: HERE.

Explore the Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection: HERE.

NASHVILLE, TN (December 12, 2023) For 150 years, Epiphone has been a leading innovator in instrument design. By leveraging its iconic past and leaning into the future, Epiphone has set the stage for the next era of sound for present and future generations. Epiphone is proud to announce the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection, an unprecedented, limited-edition collection curated by Adam Jones of TOOL, which brings Adam’s love of fine art and music together with seven, iconic and unique Les Paul Custom Silverburst masterpieces featuring the artwork of five distinguished visual artists handpicked by Adam. The Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection is now available worldwide in limited quantities at authorized Epiphone dealers, and on www.epiphone.com.

The seventh and final guitar to debut in the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection unveiled today features Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee” on the back of the guitar. Blending themes of pop culture with the techniques of the old masters, Mark Ryden blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art in a new genre of “Pop Surrealism.” Explore the artwork of Mark Ryden, HERE.

An exceptional instrument for your next musical masterpiece, this Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom has a bound mahogany body with a maple cap, a three-piece bound maple neck with an Adam Jones Custom profile, and an ebony fretboard. It is equipped with a reverse-mounted Epiphone ProBucker™ Custom humbucker™ in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan® Distortion in the bridge; both are wired to CTS® potentiometers and Orange Drop® capacitors. A Marquee Back Plate with the artist’s name and the name of the artwork is also included. This Epiphone Silverburst Les Paul™ is finished in Antique Silverburst as an homage to Adam’s beloved original Silverburst 1979 Gibson® Les Paul Custom, a Protector hardshell case is also included.

Explore the Limited-Edition Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection: HERE.

Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee.”

The Epiphone Adam Jones Art Collection comprises seven, unique Silverburst Les Paul™ Custom models, each featuring reproductions of different works of fine art on the back of the guitars. Adam curated all of the featured artwork, and selected five distinguished artists for the collection Mark Ryden, Frank Frazetta, Julie Heffernan, Korin Faught, and Ernst Fuchs

Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection (L-R): Mark Ryden “The Veil of Bees,” Frank Frazetta “The Berserker,” Julie Heffernan “Study For Self-Portrait With Rose Skirt And A Mouse,” Julie Heffernan “Self-Portrait As Not Dead Yet,” Korin Faught “Sensation,” Ernst Fuchs “Anti-Laokoon 1965,” and Mark Ryden “Queen Bee.”

The Epiphone Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection guitars represent a new take on Adam’s #1 guitar, his prized original Gibson Silverburst 1979 Gibson Les Paul, and Adam was heavily involved in creating the new guitar. Utilizing his extensive experience in visual art, special effects, and design, Adam Jones is the director of the majority of Tool’s music videos and creates the visual experience on stage for the band. For the world premiere of the Gibson Custom Shop Adam Jones Les Paul, Adam composed and scored “The Witness,” a new song and animated short film. Watch/share the “The Witness” on Gibson TV, HERE.

One of the rock’s most talented and sonically innovative guitarists, Adam Jones is renowned as the guitarist for the band TOOL, as well as his work as a visual artist, sculptor, videographer, producer, and special effects designer for films including Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters II, Batman Returns, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, 4, and 5, Dances with Wolves, Bride of the Re-Animator, Pet Sematary, Shocker, and License To Kill.

Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee.”

Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee.”

Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee” front headstock.

Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection featuring Mark Ryden’s “Queen Bee” rear headstock featuring artwork from Korin Faught.

Adam Jones:

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About artist Mark Ryden:

Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, "Pop Surrealism," dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has advanced from the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotations. Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and resonating archetypes. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at deeper psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world, cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes. Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a career-spanning retrospective "Cámara de las Maravillas" at The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo of Málaga, as well as an earlier retrospective "Wondertoonel" at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art. In 2017, Ryden was commissioned to create the set and costume design for a new production of Whipped Cream, put on by the American Ballet Theatre with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. The work created by Ryden for the ballet were exhibited at the Gallery Met located at the Metropolitan Opera House. Mark Ryden currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon, and is represented by Kasmin Gallery in New York and Perrotin Gallery in Europe and Asia. https://www.markryden.com.

About Epiphone:

For 150 years, Epiphone has been a leading innovator in instrument design with models like the Casino, the Texan, and Masterbilt Century Archtop Collection. Epiphone began as the "House of Stathopoulo" family business in Sparta in the 1870s and rose to fame during the jazz age in Manhattan before joining Gibson brands in 1957. Today, Epiphone continues to make history from its headquarters in Nashville, TN. Epiphones have powered classic recordings by Les Paul, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones along with today’s top artists like Peter Frampton, Gary Clark Jr., Tommy Thayer of KISS, and Lzzy Hale. Epiphone offers innovation, history, and a lifetime guarantee. Whether you are learning your first song in your bedroom, or rocking an arena, Epiphone has always been there, for everyone, for every generation, for every stage. For more information, visit: Epiphone.com and follow us on X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.