Visual Art
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Bringing it all back
‘ y father. who was plain speaking and Mstraight talking had said. “Isn't an artist a
fellow who paints?" when told by one of my teachers that his son had the nature of an artist. [I seemed I‘d always been chasing after something. anything that moved — a car. a bird. a blowing leaf — anything that might lead me into some more lit place. some unknown land downriver.‘
When Bob Dylan wrote this in ('hrma'e/es'.‘ Volume One in 2004. he could have been referring to a multitude of creative endeavours from a back catalogue that stretches out over almost half a century now. From earnest coffee-house troubadour to electric Judas spokesman of a generation. across umpteen albums. a free-form novel. the film Rena/(lo and Clara and most recently as host of the Theme Time Radio Hour. Dylan has been forever on the move.
endlessly morphing into different versions of himself
to keep the devoted who hang on his every utterance guessing.
With the arrival of The Drawn Blank .S'eries. the most extensive collection of Dylan‘s paintings to be aired to date. yet another Dylan emerges that's both oddly familiar and a refreshingly new arrival blowing into town.
‘There‘s this major dilemma.~ says City Art Centre curator lan O'Riordan. ‘over whether people look at the works in the same way as they would if they didn‘t know they were by Dylan. But you have to side-step that. because there are elements of Matisse and Picasso here. and they really do pack a punch.’
Based on sketches laid down as Dylan toured between 1989 and 1992 and subsequently published
‘THE WORKS REALLY DO PACK A PUNCH'
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As an extensive collection of Bob Dylan's paintings comes to Edinburgh Neil Cooper considers the work of the artist formerly known as Robert Zimmerman
in I994. The Drawn Blank Series was born out of an approach in 2006 from lngrid Mossinger. curator of the Kunstsammlungen Museum in (‘hemnitr. (iermany. Dylan had always intended scaling up his drawings into paintings. and Mossinger‘s interest gave him the impetus to focus on watercolours and gouache. The result is a scattershot view of life on the road. of hotel rooms. women and objects that come in and out of view of a just-arrived eye.
In style. colouring and configuration they at times resemble Dylan's painting for the cover of his tellingly named though critically derided 1970 album. Self Portrait. Like Dylan‘s songs too. the paintings are in and of the moment. the different versions of each reflecting a variety of moods which restlessly up-end each other depending on which angle they‘re coming from. This resembles Dylan‘s treatment songs such as ‘Tangled Up In Blue. from his I975 Bluml ()n The 'I'raeks album. While the recorded version is itself a free-wheeling and ambiguous litany of love on the run. Dylan has frequently ripped into it live. with totally different sets of lyrics set to a much slower tempo.
‘lt’s like he's walking the city.‘ ()‘Riordan observes. ‘and seeing how wonderful it is from the outside before he gets in among it. You keep looking at them and thinking there‘s a song in there somewhere..
Like the song says: ‘We always did feel the same / We just saw it from a different point of view.‘
Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Sat 31 Jan-Sun 15 Mar.
THE BEST EXHIBITlONS
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=l= Charles Avery: The Islanders: An Introduction Highly recommended introduction to the world of Mull-born artist Charles Avery. whose ongoing project explores the creatures. topology and cosmology of an imaginary island through drawing, painting, sculpture and text. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, until Sun 75 Feb.
>l< Impressionism and Scotland Last chance to see this fascinating exhibition exploring the cross-fertilisation between French impressionist painters such as Monet. Degas and Cezanne and the Scottish artists they influenced. including Peploe and Fergusson. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, until Sun 7 Feb.
* Karla Black The highly acclaimed Scottish artist explores formlessness in art as well as mental health issues through her beautiful sculptures made from domestic materials such as paste and powder and comprising household materials such as Vaseline. Sellotape and moisturising cream. Mary Mary, Glasgow, until Sat 74 Feb.
at: As Others See Us To mark Burns’ 250th anniversary and Homecoming, photographers Broad Daylight have created portraits of Scottish celebrities (and some not so well-known faces) displayed alongside their favourite poetry and songs by the bard. Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh, Thu 22 Jan-Sat 14 Feb.
* Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series The most comprehensive collection of the living legend's paintings to be aired to date comes to the capital. See preview, left. City Art Centre, Edinburgh, Sat 37 Jan-Sun 15 Mar
22 Jan—:3 Feb 2009 THE LIST 79