FLYING EYEBALL 101- HISTORY & ORIGINSI am seeing more and more of the Von Dutch Flying Eye logo on celebrities and the like. The Flying Eyeball has to be the coolest throwback design around dating back long before the kustom kulture. But remember, from the time of beginning, there has always been the inner child in all of us, the rebel spirit.
Instead of recapping an already well publicized life story of the legendary Kenneth "Von Dutch" Howard, let’s take a look at the origins and history of Von Dutch’s favorite icon, The all seeing “FLYING EYEBALL”.
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth leaving no stone unturned, no research unearthed, no muck unraked. Having enlisted the help of our kustom time machine, and set the controls for ANCIENT EGYPT-4000 BC.
EYE OF HORUS-Arriving in the Valley of the Kings (that’s one valley over from the Valley of Fatigue), we found prolific use of the Eye of Horus. Renowned to be a powerful symbol of protection and considered to confer wisdom, health, and prosperity, this hot shot sun god’s eye was big stuff in funerary rites and decoration in general. Later Egyptian mathematicians used the eye to represent fractions based on repeated division by two #1. 
EYE OF GOD- Staying ancient but kicking it up a couple of thousand years, the WAYBACK dropped us off next in classical Greece (Classical Greece? Isn’t that what you use to repack wheel bearings on pre-WWII cars?) This cat named Philostratus had all the Greeks believing that for the three minutes during a total eclipse of the sun when the moon is perfectly aligned, the black ball of the moon surrounded by the sun’s corona was the Eye of God. Go figure! Others from the Jewish perspective say that the same vision was given to Moses during that "burning bush" thing and later explained in the Dead Sea Scrolls by Isaiah as the reason why the stones of the temple are set as they are that they may become the center of the eye.
EVIL EYE-About the same time over in Sumeria the Evil Eye was getting some play as a superstitious curse. Picked up by your Central and Southern Europeans in the Middle Ages, mal occhio (as it was called in Italy) really started to roll. Amulets and talismans were commonly sold as protection and the Catholic Church inquisitors were all over it like a rash. Some even believe today that our dislike of staring and being stared at is rooted in the fear of the Evil Eye.
THIRD EYE-A long time staple of your eastern type religions, the Third Eye is believed to be your psychic reception center located between your two physical eyes. Obviously the Dutch was hip to this trip.
COYOTE’S EYEBALL-Back in the not so WAY BACK for a trip to pre-white man America where the Native Americans had an eyeball groove going on. As the story goes the Coyote liked to show off for the girls by juggling his eyeballs. One day he threw one so high that it stuck in the sky where it continues to fly.
PRE-WW 1 GERMAN MILITARY-Although aware of many or all of the aforementioned, this could quite easily be the source that inspired the Dutchman. With an avid interest in things military and particularly things German, it was either Von Dutch or one of his close confederates that told of an insignia based on the flying eyeball and sported on prewar uniforms.
ALL-SEEING EYE OF GOD-Here’s one we all know. First printed on the back side of the one dollar bill in 1935, the All-Seeing Eye has been attributed to Masonic origins and is suppose to suggest the importance of divine guidance. Not a bad concept! (Let’s have everybody in Washington flip over a buck and think about it for a few minutes!!!)
DUTCH, LARRY & DEAN-Von Dutch hit his stride in the Fifties with Larry Watson and Dean Jeffries not far behind. All embraced the winged orb; each in their own way.
RICK GRIFFIN "BG-105 1968"-Remembered as one of the most vivid images of the San Francisco Ballroom Rock Poster Art era, Rick’s flying eye is seen by some as more than an attention getter for a forthcoming Hendrix concert. There are those who believed it to be a manifestation of the artist’s inner turmoil as he agonized between love of the spirit and love of the body. While many of the eras were experiencing the same struggle, few used it as the catalyst to produce great art. Rick eventually found the answer to this duality in the vision of Jesus.
LATER- Many have subsequently drawn upon the flying eye for inspiration. Well known ballroom poster and album cover designers Mouse & Kelly have been popping eyes for years with their creations. Another of the rock art greats, Roger Dean appears to have reflected on the Eye of Horus for an Asia album cover. And pinstriping Legend Ron Myers has and continues to make the eye on the fly an integral part of his work since the late fifties.
MEMORIALS- "The Passing Of A Legend-1992"-Von Dutch’s departure from the scene compelled many artists to visually express their feelings of loss. The brushes of those legendary in their own rite including Von Franco, Jack "The Italian" Giachino, and Dave Bell have produced memorials to a hard life lived on its own terms. As we consider the price paid by those who produce the art that we love to look at, let’s remember a line from a past hit that must have been written about Dutch, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."*
EYE OF HORUS-Arriving in the Valley of the Kings (that’s one valley over from the Valley of Fatigue), we found prolific use of the Eye of Horus. Renowned to be a powerful symbol of protection and considered to confer wisdom, health, and prosperity, this hot shot sun god’s eye was big stuff in funerary rites and decoration in general. Later Egyptian mathematicians used the eye to represent fractions based on repeated division by two #1. 
EYE OF GOD- Staying ancient but kicking it up a couple of thousand years, the WAYBACK dropped us off next in classical Greece (Classical Greece? Isn’t that what you use to repack wheel bearings on pre-WWII cars?) This cat named Philostratus had all the Greeks believing that for the three minutes during a total eclipse of the sun when the moon is perfectly aligned, the black ball of the moon surrounded by the sun’s corona was the Eye of God. Go figure! Others from the Jewish perspective say that the same vision was given to Moses during that "burning bush" thing and later explained in the Dead Sea Scrolls by Isaiah as the reason why the stones of the temple are set as they are that they may become the center of the eye.
EVIL EYE-About the same time over in Sumeria the Evil Eye was getting some play as a superstitious curse. Picked up by your Central and Southern Europeans in the Middle Ages, mal occhio (as it was called in Italy) really started to roll. Amulets and talismans were commonly sold as protection and the Catholic Church inquisitors were all over it like a rash. Some even believe today that our dislike of staring and being stared at is rooted in the fear of the Evil Eye.THIRD EYE-A long time staple of your eastern type religions, the Third Eye is believed to be your psychic reception center located between your two physical eyes. Obviously the Dutch was hip to this trip.
COYOTE’S EYEBALL-Back in the not so WAY BACK for a trip to pre-white man America where the Native Americans had an eyeball groove going on. As the story goes the Coyote liked to show off for the girls by juggling his eyeballs. One day he threw one so high that it stuck in the sky where it continues to fly.
PRE-WW 1 GERMAN MILITARY-Although aware of many or all of the aforementioned, this could quite easily be the source that inspired the Dutchman. With an avid interest in things military and particularly things German, it was either Von Dutch or one of his close confederates that told of an insignia based on the flying eyeball and sported on prewar uniforms.
ALL-SEEING EYE OF GOD-Here’s one we all know. First printed on the back side of the one dollar bill in 1935, the All-Seeing Eye has been attributed to Masonic origins and is suppose to suggest the importance of divine guidance. Not a bad concept! (Let’s have everybody in Washington flip over a buck and think about it for a few minutes!!!)
DUTCH, LARRY & DEAN-Von Dutch hit his stride in the Fifties with Larry Watson and Dean Jeffries not far behind. All embraced the winged orb; each in their own way.
RICK GRIFFIN "BG-105 1968"-Remembered as one of the most vivid images of the San Francisco Ballroom Rock Poster Art era, Rick’s flying eye is seen by some as more than an attention getter for a forthcoming Hendrix concert. There are those who believed it to be a manifestation of the artist’s inner turmoil as he agonized between love of the spirit and love of the body. While many of the eras were experiencing the same struggle, few used it as the catalyst to produce great art. Rick eventually found the answer to this duality in the vision of Jesus.
LATER- Many have subsequently drawn upon the flying eye for inspiration. Well known ballroom poster and album cover designers Mouse & Kelly have been popping eyes for years with their creations. Another of the rock art greats, Roger Dean appears to have reflected on the Eye of Horus for an Asia album cover. And pinstriping Legend Ron Myers has and continues to make the eye on the fly an integral part of his work since the late fifties.
MEMORIALS- "The Passing Of A Legend-1992"-Von Dutch’s departure from the scene compelled many artists to visually express their feelings of loss. The brushes of those legendary in their own rite including Von Franco, Jack "The Italian" Giachino, and Dave Bell have produced memorials to a hard life lived on its own terms. As we consider the price paid by those who produce the art that we love to look at, let’s remember a line from a past hit that must have been written about Dutch, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."*
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