Shavo Odadjian joins the ranks of self-referential musicians/artists

Will System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian be able to match RZA's artistic masterpiece?

A huge achievement in visual art is nearly upon us: creative firm When Art Imitates Life has announced that it will release a fine art piece from System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian on April 22 - the musician's birthday. The people at WAIL are also behind Wu-Tang producer RZA's much talked about “Victory or Death" - a reworking of Emanuel Leutze’s “George Washington Crossing the Delaware" with RZA's own face in place of Washington's - and has collections from the Hieroglyphics crew and DJ QBert in the works.

Odadjian's project is a self-portrait which will depict both his "evil side" and his "righteous side," according to promotional materials.The collection is limited to 100, and the musician will modify each one by hand for a personal touch. With the release of the piece, Shavo joins a distinguished club of artists/musicians who enjoy creating complex, detailed visual works depicting...themselves.

In honor of Shavo’s foray into fine art, Click Track examines the works of a few other Great (music) Masters, and the level of ego evident in their work, after the jump.

Artist/Musician: RZA
Primary Medium: acrylic
Looks Like: epic portraiture
Ego Quotient: High. Not only does RZA paint his own image in "Victory or Death," but he is also the focus of his "20 Years of Wu" portrait series.

Artist/Musician: Anthony Benedetto AKA Tony Bennett
Medium: oil, watercolor
Looks Like: pretty landscapes, still life
Ego Quotient: Very Low. Bennett has done a self-portrait or two (what artist hasn't?), but, as in his music, the man seems intrigued by lush, flowery arrangements.

Artist/Musician: Grace Slick
Primary Medium: oil, acrylic
Looks Like: portraits
Ego Quotient: Medium. Jefferson Airplane's Slick prefers fantastic, whimsical characters as subjects--i.e., Humpty Dumpy, Sting. Still, the woman behind "White Rabbit" has an entire "Alice in Wonderland" series featuring...white rabbits.

Artist/Musician: Ron Wood
Primary Medium: oil, pencil, acrylic
Looks Like: The Rolling Stones
Ego Quotient: High. There is an endangered species series and some portraits of other musicians (Slash, Hendrix), but Wood's work features an awful lot of the Rolling Stones in their natural habitat.