BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan is one of the most influential and, at times, controversial figures in the music world of the last five decades. Over the last forty-eight years he has released forty-six albums and written over five hundred songs including ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ and ‘Make You Feel My Love’. Selling over 110 million records around the world, his songs have been covered more than three thousand times by artists as diverse as Sonny and Cher, The Byrds, the Rolling Stones, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Jarrett, Guns N’ Roses, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Pearl Jam and Neil Young.

Bob Dylan’s music has been recognised and honoured with many awards. He received an honorary doctorate of music from Princeton University, New Jersey in 1970 and from St Andrews University, Scotland in 2004. In addition to winning numerous Grammy Awards, his song ‘Things Have Changed’ from the film ‘Wonder Boys’ (2000) won him an Academy Award in 2001 and his 2009 album, ‘Together Through Life’, entered the charts at number one in the UK and America, and charted Top Five in many other countries around the world.

THE DRAWN BLANK SERIES

Left: Man On A Bridge

Whilst travelling on tour between 1989 and 1992, Bob Dylan created a collection of drawings that were published in a book entitled ‘Drawn Blank’ in 1994. These expressive works capture Dylan’s chance encounters and observations. The creation of these portraits, interiors, landscapes, still lifes, nudes and street scenes were done to “relax and refocus a restless mind”.

Ingrid Mössinger – the curator of the Kunstsammlungen Museum, in Chemnitz, Germany – came across Drawn Blank’ during a visit to New York in 2006. Instantly excited about Dylan’s work, she contacted the artist’s team and was thrilled to learn that Bob Dylan would agree to have his art exhibited in public for the first time.

Right: Mexico

When Dylan had first drawn the works in this series he had intended to createpaintings based upon them. Ingrid Mössinger’s proposed exhibition encouraged him to now do this using watercolour and gouache. “I was fascinated to learn of Ingrid’s interest in my work, and it gave me the impetus to realise the vision I had for these drawings many years ago,” Bob Dylan commented.

These paintings formed a collection entitled ‘The Drawn Blank Series’. Unlike the delicacy of the drawings in ‘Drawn Blank’ the paintings are expressive and vibrant. Dylan paints several versions of the same image, using different colours and tones which result in a dynamic variety of impressions, feelings and emotions.

Left: Motel Pool

This choice and skill in applying different colour arrangements to the same original drawing enables Dylan to express his feelings and perceptions of an idea or view – continually evoking different feelings and reactions, and thereby creating evolving works of art. This technique is intrinsic to Dylan in all aspects of his creative life. As Tobias Rüther (Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper), who credited Dylan with successfully translating his songs into art, commented: “That which he’s done for years on the stage – performing new versions of his old songs in order to give a fresh interpretation – he’s now continuing on deckle-edged paper.”

THE DRAWN BLANK SERIES GRAPHICS COLLECTION

Right: Sidewalk Cafe

Prior to the seventeenth century most artists had viewed printmaking (or Graphics as they are also known nowadays) as a preparatory technique, using the medium to create sketches for their final paintings.

The Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) was one of the first artists to use printmaking as a form of art in its own right. Although initially a painter, he became devoted to the medium of etching; creating approximately three hundred etchings during his lifetime. His importance and renown within the art world in this context is of such significance that, when the medium was revived during the twentieth century, artists such as Picasso fervently aspired to be as skilled as him in this medium and, during the 1930s went on to create, amongst many fine art graphics, a series of etchings which featured imagery of Rembrandt.

The series was entitled ‘The Vollard Suite’, named after the renowned art dealer and critic Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) who commissioned and published it. Vollard was one of the most important art dealers of the early twentieth century, and worked with artists such as Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). Importantly, it was Vollard who pioneered the idea of painter as printer, bringing printmaking back into fashion and establishing it as a reputable art form that artists enjoyed and enthusiastically used. As Vollard himself commented: “…the painters themselves became more and more interested in the new form of expression. Some of them even made complete albums for me…”

Left: Still With Peaches

After the Second World War the centre of printmaking predominantly moved from Europe to America and some artists began to dedicate their entire oeuvres to print, which came to be viewed on the same level as painting and sculpture. Indeed, artists such as Andy Warhol (1928-1987) were committed to the medium – repeating an image in many different colour-ways – just as Bob Dylan has done in his works years later.

As part of this tradition, and continuing it into the twenty-first century, a carefully selected collection of Dylan’s paintings have been chosen to be published as Signed Limited Edition Graphics to enable collectors, and art lovers throughout the world, access to Bob Dylan’s works of art.

This graphics collection entitled ‘The Drawn Blank Series’ captures the true essence of Dylan’s original paintings. In the spirit of Vollard, it is the production of these prints that enables a wider audience to appreciate the skill and imagination not only of Dylan the artist, but also of Dylan the man.

Each edition is published in a limited number of no more than 295 copies worldwide. All are printed on Hahnemühle Museum Etching or Innova Soft Texture paper, certificated and personally signed by the artist.

To see more of Dylan’s art: http://www.bobdylanart.com/exhibition.asp

deletereply kathyinozarks wrote on Jul 31, ’11 I enjoyed the collection and your post-thanks

deletereply nemo4sun wrote on Jul 31, ’11 wow! they are great 🙂

deletereply greenwytch wrote on Jul 31, ’11 i love these, too!

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jul 31, ’11 He’s an amazing artist. I love the way he uses his colors.

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Jul 31, ’11 Enjoyed this, one of my fav artists on many levels /:-)

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jul 31, ’11 Isn’t it interesting how many musicians are also great artists?

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Jul 31, ’11 lauritasita said Isn’t it interesting how many musicians are also great artists? Very true, guess true creative talent extends across expressions (I can only guess lol /:-)

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 4, ’11 Hi Laurita… 🙂 I’m just trying to catch up with all the Art Sunday posts I missed……….love this post, so informative and although I know he painted, I can’t remember ever actually seeing any of his work. These little paintings have a very ‘French’ feel to them, especially the Man on a Bridge and the Motel Pool. ( my two favourites) Thanks for showing the paintings laurita.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Aug 4, ’11 Hi Loretta! I haven’t spoken to you for a long time. I agree they seem to have a French feel. Visit the website where these came from. There’s a link at the bottom of the post. He’s amazing, isn’t he?