Bob Dylan, Bicycle. © 2007 Bob Dylan
Exhibition Preview: Bob Dylan - Drawn Blank, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, until March 15 2009
At every juncture in Bob Dylan’s multi-faceted career, his audience is left to ponder when he will fall flat on his face. His frequently sublime musical, poetic and cinematic endeavours could make any deficiencies in Dylan's latest foray, an exhibition of paintings and drawings first unveiled in Germany in November 2007, all the more glaring.
“Dylan is an artist in every sense of the word,” explains Paul Green, President of the Halcyon in Mayfair, which hosted the show last summer.
“Everybody wants to have a good old knock because of who he is and how famous he is, but I think that’s what comes out of his work,” accepts the curator, who reckons Dylan will turn to sculpture next. “When I was asked if we wanted to do an exhibition of Dylan’s work I wasn’t interested in the celebrity of the artist, I wanted to see the calibre and quality of the art first. It says everything about Dylan and brings him to life, but time will test that. Where does the work go? It has to go to museums.”
The reclusive icon himself is, according to Green, more intent on having his work exposed than analysing the reactions they receive. “If people love it or hate it that’s up to them,” he theorises. “He won’t ever stand still, that’s not who he is. Plus he wants his work to be seen by the public. Same as his music, he’s not willing to enter into a dialogue. He’s never done that, he’s never wanted to be a leader of men or enter a civil rights movement, but he wants people to see the work.”
Woman In Red Lion Pub is believed to have been created by the artist while in Blackpool in the early 1990s. © Bob Dylan 2007
Fortunately, his first dabbles on canvas are undoubtedly good enough in their own right to avoid tarnishing his imperious reputation. Originally 72 different works created by Dylan during three years of touring between 1989 and 1992, the surprising element of the body comes in being able to critically evaluate it, rather than simply finding yourself awestruck or disappointed.
The selection on offer comprises largely observational drawings notable for their rich colours and strong, dark lines. First published in a 1994 book, Drawn Blank, there is a profound backdrop of isolation running through many of the pieces, taking in empty, humble hostel rooms, bars and window views, and Green recognises this “sense of loneliness.”
“He almost became the person he didn’t want to be because he was the person who couldn’t walk into a bar, so he’s got to look in from the outside. The work generally is him looking in from a balcony, out onto a street or into a bar, because the dynamic changes when he walks in and people no longer act like themselves.”
Cassandra. © Bob Dylan 2007
Another eye-catching trait is Dylan’s tendency to recreate individual pictures with dramatically altered colour schemes, literally changing the light in which they appear. Woman in Red Lion Pub, which he is thought to have drawn in Blackpool in 1992, portrays a curvaceous woman with her back to the artist, the embryonic pencil sketch brought to suggestive life with bold blue colouring.
Train Tracks, hung nearby, changes the terrain from pastoral green to blood red according to the time of day and Dylan’s mood.
“The reason it’s called Drawn Blank is that it started as just a series of drawings with no colour,” says Green, who likens the style to Warhol. “His use of repetition sort of liberated him as he started to use more and more colour, and you can see his moods change with the colour, in the same way Picasso used to paint with mood."
Train Tracks resembles the line which dominated the landscape of the Minnesota town where Bob Dylan grew up. © Bob Dylan 2007
“I’m hoping that he’ll make another film based on this period," adds Green. "Scorsese said that when he was filming No Direction Home [his 2005 documentary tracing Dylan’s life and impact] it was the most enjoyable thing he’d done in 20 years, and that included The Aviator. He just loved the whole process of being involved with Bob Dylan, this really extraordinary human being.”
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