Bob Dylan, Drawn Blank Series Press Coverage

Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
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29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
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29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
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29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
24 Bruton Street, London W1J 6QQ T +44 (0)20 7659 7640 F +44 (0)20 7495 4 7 41
29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
24 Bruton Street, London W1J 6QQ T +44 (0)20 7659 7640 F +44 (0)20 7495 4 7 41
29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Times
Friday 6 June 2008
Circ. 618,160
24 Bruton Street, London W1J 6QQ T +44 (0)20 7659 7640 F +44 (0)20 7495 4 7 41
29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Evening Standard
Monday 9 June 2008
Circ. 284,030
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Independent
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Circ. 240,503
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Independent
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Circ. 240,503
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29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Evening Standard
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Circ. 284,030
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Channel 4 News Online
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Unique Users 7,000,000
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Channel 4 News Online
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Unique Users 7,000,000
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Times Literary Supplement
Friday 13 June 2008
Circ. 33,768
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Uncut
July 2008
Circ. 91,028
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Uncut
July 2008
Circ. 91,028
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29 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RL T +44 (0)20 7499 4508 F +44 (0)20 7495 7 512
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International Press Cuttings Contents
El Periodico de Catalunya (Spain)
Tuesday 10 June 2008
San Francisco Business Times
Saturday 10 May 2008
The Age Online (Australia)
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Le Temps (Switzerland)
Saturday 21 June 2008
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine (New Zealand)
Sunday 22 June 2008
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
El Periodico de Catalunya
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Circ. 167,804
(COLOR) - Pub: PERIODICO ND Doc: 06895M Red: 60% Ed: Primera EDICION Cb: 00 Enviado por:
Dia: 09/06/2008 - Hora: 22:54
68
MARTES
10 DE JUNIO DEL 2008
Conexión a internet: http://www.elperiodico.com
icult@elperiodico.com
i ����
el Periódico
‘Son dos’
ESPECTÁCULOS
CULTURA
GENTE
TELEVISIÓN
TEATRE BORRÀS, 21.30 HORAS
Faemino y Cansado regresan
con sus disparatados gags. El
dúo madrileño mantiene la
chispa y el buen humor.
LA OTRA FACETA DE UN CREADOR ÚNICO
Bob Dylan expone en Londres los
dibujos que le inspiraban sus giras
La elitista galería Halcyon exhibe unas 300 obras
del cantautor impregnadas de fuerza y de color
El músico captó entre 1989 y 1992 los paisajes
y personajes que iban desfilando ante sus ojos
33 Cuatro de los cuadros dibujados y coloreados por Bob Dylan que expone la galería Halcyon de Londres. Abajo, el cantautor estadounidense.
BEGOÑA ARCE
LONDRES
P
oeta, genio de la música, el
gran Bob Dylan revela ahora una nueva faceta artística. La elegante galería Halcyon de Londres expondrá, desde este
sábado y hasta finales de julio, una
amplia selección de pinturas y dibujos del cantante. The Drawn Blank Series es una muestra de unas 300
obras, llenas de fuerza y color.
Durante sus largas giras por los
escenarios de América, Europa y
Asia, entre 1989 y 1992, Dylan fue
captando con sus lápices y pinceles
los paisajes, ambientes y personajes
que desfilaban ante sus ojos. En muchas ocasiones eran las vías del tren
vacías, cruzándose en el infinito. En
otras eran bocetos de las habitaciones de hotel por las que iba pasando, todas diferentes y tan iguales a
la vez. Había también bares de carretera, con un cierto aire de desolación. A veces Dylan dibujaba retratos de seres anónimos que le llamaban la atención. Abundan las mujeres anónimas, desnudas en ocasiones, con las que quizás hizo el amor.
Aquellos apuntes apresurados,
realizados por puro placer se convirtieron en lienzos y cuadros en el
2007. Ahora cuelgan de los muros
exquisitos de una de las galerías más
prestigiosas de la capital británica.
Algunos críticos creen ver en las
pinturas de Dylan trazos y colores
que serían influencias de impresionistas como Vicent van Gogh o
quizás Gaugin. El músico, que ha
cumplido 67 años y lleva 46 de carrera, afirma no tener ningún maestro. De haber alguna influencia, «es
simplemente por accidente o por
instinto». «No he tenido ninguna formación académica, donde aprender
cómo hacer algo al estilo de Degas o
de Van Gogh, o cómo copiar un Da
Vinci», ha comentado con humor al
diario The Times.
/ «No tengo facilidad para copiar paso a paso». Fue la
directora del museo de la ciudad alemana de Chemnitz, Ingrid Mössinger, quien descubrió el libro de bocetos de Dylan, que había publicado
Random House y le convenció para
que los trabajara poniéndoles color.
Al músico le encantó la idea y se puso manos a la obra con entusiasmo. Escaneó y amplió los viejos dibujos y durante 8
meses ensayó con acuarela, guash, lápiz y
otras técnicas. Concienzudo, tenaz, en
algunas ocasiones
ha realizado tres
versiones diferentes a partir de un
mismo original,
como es el caso
de Woman near
a window (Mujer
cerca de una
ventana) o Kitchen (Cocina).
«Es un artista
LIBRO DE BOCETOS
que encara las artes plásticas como
otras de sus facetas artísticas, con
disciplina y talento», afirma la comisaria de la exposición, Kate Anderson. A pesar de los colores vibrantes,
muchas de las pinturas de Dylan hablan de soledad y de abandono. Su atención se fija a
menudo en
algún deta-
lle del espacio urbano, como un tobogán para niños, una terraza, una
bicicleta apoyada en un árbol, o la
fachada de ladrillo de un viejo edificio de viviendas. Abundan las escenas callejeras y los retratos de mujeres anónimas, como Woman en Red
Lion Pub (Mujer en el Pub el León
Rojo), una figura femenina
sentada de espaldas en la barra de un bar con un llamativo vestido de color amarillo.
O Two Sisters, (Dos hermanas), realizada
en fuertes tonos
azules y verdes.
Más oscuro e intenso es
el Portrait of Woman Smiling
(Retrato de Mujer sonriendo) en
negro y ocre. «En la mayoría de
los casos no sabemos quienes
son estas mujeres. Era gente con la
que Dylan se iba encontrando durante sus giras y por alguna razón
decidía pintarlas», afirma Anderson.
La galería londinense Halcyon ha
publicado un lujoso catálogo con
una cuidada reproducción de todos
los trabajos del artista, que es un impagable recuerdo de una experiencia única. El músico, que ha escrito a
lo largo de toda su carrera más de
500 canciones y ha publicado 44
discos de los que ha vendido 110 millones de ejemplares, estará en España este verano, donde tiene previstos varios conciertos. H
IMÁGENES DE LOS CUADROS EN
www.elperiodico.com
i nterferencias
El pintor
dominguero
RAMÓN
De España
Paolo Conte dedicó una de sus
canciones más melancólicamente crueles a esos pobres diablos
que trabajan en lo suyo de lunes
a viernes y que los fines de semana desempolvan pinceles para ser
durante unas horas lo que nunca
han podido ser a jornada completa. Bob Dylan no es exactamente
un pobre diablo, sino uno de los
seres más influyentes del siglo
XX, pero sus obras recuerdan a
las de esos pittori della domenica sobre los que ironizaba el cantautor
de Asti. ¿Llegarían a una galería si
no estuvieran firmadas por el bardo de Minnesota? Lo dudo. Sin
ser tan horripilantes como las de
otros artistas de fin de semana
–pensemos en Rafael Alberti, los
lamentables dibujitos de Günter
Grass o los cuadros de búhos hechos con chinchetas de Camilo
Sesto–, la verdad es que las acuarelas del señor Zimmerman no
son gran cosa.
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
San Francisco Business Times
Saturday 10 May 2008
Unique Users. N/A
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
The Age Online (Australia)
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Unique Users. 2,967,282
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Le Temps (Switzerland)
Saturday 21 June 2008
Circ. 50,000
20
Culture
L’Euro ne vide
pas les salles
Bob Dylan chez les marchands d’art
Footmania Cinémas
et théâtres restent
très fréquentés
Exposition Le musicien et poète américain présente et vend à Londres une centaine d’œuvres picturales,
tirées de dessins réalisés en tournée. Succès commercial total pour une icône absente
Le Temps
Samedi 21 juin 2008
Les directeurs des cinémas et
théâtres romands sont soulagés.
Contrairement au raz de marée
prévu, la footmania ne vide pas
leurs salles. Après presque deux
semaines de compétition, tous, de
Neuchâtel à Genève, constatent
une fréquentation inespérée. Les
raisons? Le mauvais temps, évidemment, jusqu’au milieu de la semaine passée, mais aussi la sortie
de blockbusters comme Indiana Jones et Sex and the city. Les footophobes peuvent donc se réjouir: ces
jours en Suisse, il y a une vie sociale
en dehors du ballon rond.
«Avec le beau temps et l’Euro,
on avait budgété très peu d’entrées
en juin. Or, c’est tout le contraire
qui se passe, se réjouit Charles Vinzio, directeur de Pathé-Genève.
Notre fréquentation est si bonne
qu’elle dépasse même celle d’un
mois de juin ordinaire.» C’est que
la météo, elle, n’a rien d’ordinaire.
Et les exploitants de salles de cinéma ont bénéficié de la sortie
consécutive de deux grosses pointures. «Sûr que ces coups de pouce
du calendrier sont bienvenus»,
confirme Teodor Teodorescu, directeur de Pathé-Lausanne dont
les 15 salles, réparties entre Le Flon
et les Galeries, projettent largement Indiana Jones et Sex and The
City. Sentiment identique chez Vital Epelbaum, patron des cinémas
neuchâtelois et biennois. «Les locomotives fonctionnent bien. Et
on espère encore beaucoup des
prochaines grosses sorties, Phénomènes ou Le journal d’une baby-sitter.»
Moins de cinéma à Berne
Mais même du côté du cinéma
d’auteur, on ne note pas d’hémorragie dans l’affluence des spectateurs. «La période est moins creuse
qu’on ne l’avait envisagé», observe
Marc Salafa, directeur de Cinémotions, à Fribourg. «Pour moi, le
danger tient plutôt, tout au long
de l’année, dans le recours abusif
aux DVD. Les jeunes, notamment,
n’ont plus la culture du grand
écran.» De son combat avec l’Euro,
le cinéma sortirait presque vainqueur. Sauf à Berne, où plusieurs
salles ont choisi de fermer en juin.
Rénovation et vacances annuelles
sont invoquées. Un cinéma va jusqu’à mentionner l’Euro comme
raison de faire relâche.
Et pour les théâtres qui n’ont
pas encore clos leur saison? Satisfaction, là aussi. Au Théâtre de Carouge, bon score pour Caveman,
one-man-show qui tombe à point
nommé puisqu’il traite des différences indépassables entre hommes et femmes. Quant à Vidy-Lausanne, les trois spectacles à
l’affiche ne désemplissent pas. «Les
gens apprécient que nous proposions encore du spectacle vivant à
cette période», conclut Sarah Turin, chef du service de presse.
PROLITTERIS
Marie-Pierre Genecand
«Deux sœurs», Bob Dylan, 2007. Elles sont déclinées plusieurs fois, complices et rieuses ici, là indifférentes ou plutôt rivales, et dans des tons complètement différents. ARCHIVES
Florence Gaillard, Londres
Pas sûr que, signés Robert Zimmerman, les 97 tableaux présentés depuis ce week-end aient eu les
faveurs de la Halcyon Gallery. On
est à Mayfair, chiquissime quartier
de boutiques et de galeries d’art
du cœur de Londres. Là où les boutiques font tout pour ressembler à
des galeries d’art et où les galeries
d’art ont des airs de défilés de
mode. Là où les maisons de vente
aux enchères bondissent de records en records, protégées contre
vents et marées de crises financières qui donnent comme un air
soucieux aux banquiers de la City.
Pas sûr donc que, signés Robert
Zimmerman, les 97 tableaux aient
été, en moins de deux jours, vendus entre – chut, c’est secret –
150 000 et 300 000 francs chacun,
au moins. Mais les tableaux sont
signés Bob Dylan. Un tableau de
lui, et c’est le mythe accroché audessus de la cheminée. Sa signature, un petit bout d’histoire générationnelle qui ne nous glissera
pas entre les doigts. Et un fétiche
qui doit sûrement garantir à l’ac-
La fortune de Stieg Larsson refusée
La section du Parti socialiste suédois d’Umeaa a
refusé jeudi l’argent que l’auteur de la trilogie Millénium, Stieg Larsson, lui avait attribué dans un testament de 1977 retrouvé récemment. «Nous ne voulons pas participer à des querelles de testament et
nous ne voulons pas toucher de l’argent de cette
façon», a déclaré le porte-parole du parti. (AFP)
Brèves
Musée
U Le musée consacré au peintre
Mathurin Méheut en Bretagne va
rendre 5000 œuvres, données il y
a plus de trente ans par la veuve de
Picasso
U Le tribunal correctionnel de
Paris a débouté vendredi la petite-fille de Picasso, Marina Picasso,
qui poursuivait en diffamation
quéreur une part intangible du talent, de la liberté, de l’aura de
l’auteur.
Donc Dylan expose, c’est une
première. Si l’on en croit son autobiographie (Chronicles: Volume
One, 2004), il a toujours dessiné
depuis 1961. Et puis, avant la musique, Dylan a tenté une école
d’art, quelques mois, sans conviction. Outre des couvertures de disques et de magazines, une série de
dessins avait été rassemblée dans
un livre en 1994. Et puis, l’automne dernier, un musée allemand a présenté ses œuvres. Mais
jamais le Zim, chanteur, musicien,
poète, réalisateur, désormais Prix
Pulitzer, n’avait réuni ses dessins
et peintures pour les présenter
globalement au public et les vendre.
A l’origine, il s’agit de dessins
que l’artiste a réalisés à ses heures
perdues lors de tournées entre
1982 et 1992. Bien plus tard, Dylan a scanné ses dessins, les a imprimés en grand format, puis y a
posé la couleur – gouache ou
aquarelle. D’où ces séries exposées
à Londres, d’un même motif dé-
cliné dans des tons complètement
différents, accentuant ici tel détail, ignorant là tel autre. La méthode coule de source, elle s’apparente à celle de Dylan chanteur –
toujours réinventer ses chansons,
réinterpréter pour la dix-millième
fois «Blowin’ in the Wind», tenter
selon l’humeur des versions folk,
blues, rock, lentes, lasses ou frondeuses. Ainsi de ces Deux Sœurs –
déclinées plusieurs fois, complices et rieuses ici, là indifférentes
ou plutôt rivales selon le détail des
expressions, et dans des tons complètement différents.
Si Dylan a fait des portraits, la
majorité de ses sujets sont les détails anodins de lieux anodins. La
commode d’une chambre d’hôtel,
le coin nocturne d’un bar, une
cage d’escalier, la piscine d’un motel. Les lieux sont vides de présence humaine, urbains ou perdus
dans des recoins d’Etats ruraux; le
point de vue est surélevé, marquant la distance et une séparation d’avec le monde et ses couleurs vives, voire criardes.
Une série de six pièces porte sur
les voies de trains. Du crayon noir
et des ciels en feu. Iconographie
du voyage et de la fuite mais, dans
le cas du chanteur, retour au paysage rassurant. «J’ai vu des trains
depuis tout enfant. Le son d’un
train dans le lointain me donne le
sentiment d’être chez moi, d’être
là où rien ne manque», a commenté Dylan.
Bob Dylan viendra-t-il
à Londres ou ne
viendra-t-il pas?
Le mystère
est entretenu
Dans une interview donnée au
Times, Dylan cite Matisse, Derain,
Monet et Gauguin comme les
peintres qui ont marqué sa jeunesse. Un Homme sur le pont qui a
les traits d’un cousin de Vincent
Van Gogh pastiche le peintre hollandais. Dans les textes de présentation des œuvres, des critiques
évoquent Degas ou, plus probant,
Toulouse-Lautrec. Si Dylan, le
songwriter, a été l’avant-garde des
années folk et rock du XXe siècle
américain, Dylan le peintre est davantage un illustrateur du XIXe
siècle européen.
Si Dylan est Dylan, ce n’est pas
grâce à sa peinture, on l’aura compris. Il ne prétend pas le contraire,
d’ailleurs. La seule chose qu’il prétende toujours et encore, c’est l’incapacité du monde entier à comprendre ou interpréter ses gestes,
y compris picturaux. En tournée
scandinave (le Neverending Tour
n’en finit pas de tourner), Dylan
viendra à Londres ou ne viendra
pas, le mystère est entretenu. On
se contente pour l’instant de quelques citations de l’artiste, gravées
ici et là sur les murs de la galerie,
toute vouée au culte du héros. Du
genre: «Le propos de mes dessins
est très indéfini. Ce sont des dessins très personnels.» Ça n’aidera
pas beaucoup les exégètes, mais
c’est signé Dylan.
The Drawn Blank Series, de Bob
Dylan. Halcyon Gallery, 24 Bruton
Street, Londres.
www.halcyongallery.com
Jusqu’au 13 juillet.
A Genève, Bujar Marika crie à l’eau
Exposition Travail sur le réchauffement climatique
Il s’est dédié tardivement aux
arts plastiques. Bujar Marika utilise les moyens d’un art construit
pour rendre des idées et pour agir
sur les consciences autant que sur
le goût. L’exposition à la galerie
Andata.ritorno de l’artiste d’origine albanaise, qui vit en Suisse
depuis 1992, a pour thème le réchauffement climatique. L’intention n’est pas d’alerter une fois de
plus du danger imminent, de lancer un cri, vite perdu dans le brou-
Soit un agencement de pendu- d’une baignoire – vide – flottant à Berne dans les années 1990. Il
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A la sortie, des bouteilles éti- ordonnée, pour donner corps à
positif de pois noirs, nous renvoie
en miroir notre époque aveugle quetées «Larmes de la banquise», une pensée engagée.
aux conséquences de son propre titre de l’entier de l’exposition, Laurence Chauvy
aveuglement… Les autres pièces sont proposées au visiteur, non
misent aussi sur le pouvoir sinis- seulement comme souvenir d’une Bujar Marika: Larmes de la
tre du noir. Ce sont des masques brève expérience, mais, d’une ma- banquise, installations.
antipollution, imbibés de tein- nière plus menaçante, comme élé- Andata.ritorno, laboratoire d’art
Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 543,265
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 543,265
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine
Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 200,000
profile
don’t look back
Odense, Denmark, and the not-quite-grand hotel that for the next two nights
will be a home away from home for Bob Dylan. He arrived here from Reykjavik,
four days after his 67th birthday and in the first stages of a lengthy itinerary
that will take him through Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Austria, Italy, France,
Andorra, Spain and Portugal between now and mid-July. To his irritation,
others long ago gave this ongoing schedule the title of The Never-Ending Tour
(habitually, he plays upwards of 100 concerts each year, often considerably
more). As he prefers to see it: “I’m just making my living by plying a trade.”
Achieving my promised audience proves to be a two-step process. First,
his road manager takes me from the lobby to a darkened, sparsely furnished
meeting room in which an orange-haired woman is sitting straight-backed
and reading a novel.
“If you could just wait here,” he begins, then disappears, his mobile clamped
to his ear. Left alone, I introduce myself to the woman but she merely smiles
enigmatically and continues with her book. Who is she? I still have no idea.
Minutes later I am collected, taken up a flight of stairs and ushered towards
a door that is ajar. As I approach it is opened wide by Dylan, who welcomes me
inside with a soft handshake and a volley of courtesies: “How have you been?”
(I have interviewed him twice before, in 1997 and 2001), “What’s been going on
in your life?” and “Are you okay with the dark?” (here in what appears to be his
bedroom, all the curtains have been drawn).
My eyes adjusting to this premature twilight, I take in the fact that he is wearing
boots, jeans and a loose sweatshirt, its sleeves pushed up above the elbows. That
famous face is heavily lined and pale, but always warm and quick to smile. As we
take seats at right angles to each other, he presses his fingertips into his greyflecked curls and vigorously rubs his scalp, as if to do so will focus his mind.
I place on the low table between us the book that I have brought with me.
“Heh, heh, heh!” Dylan chuckles, reaching out for it. “This is pretty handsome
stuff.” He is looking at a straight-from-the-presses copy of The Drawn Blank
22
Series, produced by the Halcyon Gallery to coincide with the exhibition of his
drawings in Mayfair, London. Will he visit the show itself? “I don’t know,” he
says, seemingly transfixed by the book’s cover, his voice the familiar rasp that
has inspired a million amateur impressionists. “I have all these dates to play.
It might not be possible. I’d like to. We’ll have to see.”
The haphazard process leading to the London show began nearly 20 years
ago when he was approached by an editor at the American publishing company
Random House. “They’d seen some of my sketches somewhere and asked if I’d
like to do a whole book. Why not, you know? There was no predetermined brief.
‘Just deal with the material to hand, whatever that is. And do it however you
want. You can be fussy, you can be slam-bang; it doesn’t matter.’
“Then they gave me a drawing book. I took it away with me and turned it
back in again, full three years later.”
Published in 1994 under the abbreviated title Drawn Blank, the resultant
images had been executed both on the hoof while he was touring and in a more
structured way in studios, using models (“Just anyone who’d be open to doing
it”) and lights. What was going on in his life during that three-year period to
inform or provide a back story to the work? “Just the usual,” Dylan shrugs,
fixed in the hunkered-forward, hands-clasped position he will maintain for most
of our time together. “I try to live as simply as is possible and was just drawing
whatever I felt like drawing, whenever I felt like doing it. The idea was always
to do it without affectation or self-reference, to provide some kind of panoramic
view of the world as I was seeing it.”
Built up of work that is often contemplative, sometimes exuberant but
consistently technically accomplished and engaging, that view is of train halts,
diners and dockyards, barflies, dandies and uniformed drivers glimpsed in New
Orleans or New York, Stockholm or South Dakota. And of women. We’re left
in no doubt that Dylan likes women. “They weren’t actually there at the same
time,” he notes quickly, pointing, when his page-turning reveals the painting
STORY: THE TIMES, LONDON
Legendary singer-songwriter and now exhibited painter Bob Dylan loves
to talk about his working life, but touch on the personal – past or present −
and you risk his 1000-yard stare. Alan Jackson reports
sunday
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine
Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 200,000
hibition of his
’t know,” he
miliar rasp that
ates to play.
arly 20 years
shing company
e and asked if I’d
etermined brief.
however you
nd turned it
erant but
of train halts,
mpsed in New
n. We’re left
e at the same
he painting
STORY: THE TIMES, LONDON
e resultant
ng and in a more
open to doing
ar period to
an shrugs,
aintain for most
as just drawing
a was always
nd of panoramic
sunday 23
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine
Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 200,000
profile
Two Sisters
PAINTINGS: © 2007 BOB DYLAN
Two Sisters, its subjects lounging, one clothed, the
But years later there came an approach from
other naked but for her bra. “They posed separately
the Chemnitz City Art Gallery in Germany. Ingrid
and I put them together afterwards.”
Mössinger, its director and a fan of the 1965
There was little precedent within his own family
album Bringing It All Back Home, had felt it likely
for this talented eye, it seems. “Instead of playing
that someone as adept as Dylan in the use of
cards, my maternal grandmother would do these
metaphoric and abstract language might also draw
little still lives, but I can’t really say that had any
or paint. Her research led her to the book Drawn
influence on what I’ve done.” Art formed no part
Blank, in the preface of which Dylan wrote of
of his formal education and he recalls there being
hoping to “eventually complete” its collection
no public galleries in the Minnesotan communities
of sketches. She encouraged him to do just that.
(first Duluth, then Hibbing) of his youth. “I was in
Digital scans were made of the original drawings
my teens before I started to
and then they were enlarged
see books of paintings in the
and transferred on to heavy
“These ‘connoisseurs’
school library – frescoes or
paper ready for reworking.
of Bob Dylan. I don’t
the work of Michelangelo –
Dylan experimented with a
feel they have an
that kind of thing. And
variety of colours. “And doing
inkling of who I am and
I didn’t really see the stuff
so subverted the light. Every
that properly had an impact
picture spoke a different
what I’m about. That
on me – Matisse, Derain,
language to me as the
such people have spent
Monet, Gauguin – ‘til later on,
various colours were applied.”
so much time thinking
when I was in my twenties.”
Attempts have been made
about me? Get a life”
By then, Dylan the university
to pin down and name his
dropout and fledgling folk
influences. When I mention
performer had gravitated to New York, where he
this, Dylan wrongly takes it as a suggestion that the
quickly discovered the Metropolitan Museum of
work is pastiche or somehow derivative. “I haven’t
Art. “It was overwhelming for me at the time – the
trained in any academy where you learn how to
immensity and sheer variety of stuff on display. The
do something in the style of Degas or Van Gogh,
first exhibition I saw there was of Gauguin paintings
or how to copy Da Vinci,” he retorts. “I don’t have
and I found I could stand in front of any one of them
that facility to copy note for note. Influenced by?
for as long as I’d sit at the movies, yet not get tired
If I had the ability to paint like any of those guys
on my feet. I’d lose all sense of time. It was an
I might see the similarity, but I don’t. If there is
intriguing thing.” It was as his music career gathered
anything it’s just by accident and instinctive.” Which
pace that he found himself first trying his own
is all that any critic was suggesting, after all. But,
hand at drawing. “Mostly when I was on a train
it seems, he is as uncomfortable at having his
or in a café, just to make sense of what was in
paintings deconstructed as he is his songs.
my immediate world. I found it relaxed me. Some
Of the latter process, he said on our last meeting:
of the stuff I kept, some I didn’t.”
“These so-called connoisseurs of Bob Dylan music?
It was sketches completed in this manner and
I don’t feel they know a thing or have an inkling of
spirit that, years later, came to the attention of
who I am and what I’m about. That such people
Random House. However, little accord was given
have spent so much time thinking about who?
to the book on its eventual publication. “The critics
Me? Get a life, please.”
didn’t want to review it. The publisher told me they
Today he expresses similar impatience with
couldn’t get past the idea of another singer who
the critics who have read into his art a variety
dabbled. You know, like, ‘David Bowie, Joni Mitchell,
of underlying feelings – anonymity, transience,
Paul McCartney... Everyone’s doing it these days.’
rootlessness, even loneliness. Reaching again for
No one from the singing profession was going
the Halcyon book. “Let’s have a look, shall we?”
to be taken seriously by the art world, I was told,
The pages fall open at Woman in Red Lion Pub,
but that was okay. I wasn’t expecting anything
her dress executed in a vivid yellow. “Do you see
phenomenal to happen. It’s not like the drawings
loneliness in that? I don’t. And this one’s just a
were revolutionary. They weren’t going to change
pastoral scene. What’s rootless, transient and lonely
anyone’s way of thinking.”
about that? It’s a mystery why anybody would say
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or think such a thing.
various images with
revealing himself as
his name and status
than connect directly
“I just find it to be
ends [by which he m
being endless, so I’ll
it in some way. It jus
So he would prefe
response to the work
for themes and insig
the beholder...There’
my mind. Or even if
is fine.”
On both our previo
his disdain for those
every scrap of paper
studio out-take that h
mind, I ask if it was a
name on each of the
he exclaims, laughing
it was.” And did he p
in advance? “I did, be
right. Finally you thin
for it, like you’re writi
He has, he says, n
the images. “It’s the
In the Sixties, by the
way past the recorde
‘No, don’t release tha
now.’ So it is with the
‘I could have done th
In the end, though
go and hope you’ll kn
When I ask if he fi
preferable to the one
grins and pulls a face
world’s a made-up bu
I know from publishi
Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine
Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 200,000
PAINTINGS: © 2007 BOB DYLAN
Two Sisters
or think such a thing.” And the idea that, in framing
various images with windows and doors, he is
revealing himself as a perennial outsider, forced by
his name and status to observe the world rather
than connect directly with it? Dylan rolls his eyes.
“I just find it to be less satisfying to have the
ends [by which he means the edges of the image]
being endless, so I’ll put a window there or block
it in some way. It just looks better to me that way.”
So he would prefer a purely emotional, instinctive
response to the work rather than any searching
for themes and insights? “If it pleases the eye of
the beholder...There’s no more to it than that, to
my mind. Or even if it repels the eye. Either one
is fine.”
On both our previous meetings, Dylan voiced
his disdain for those completists who wish to see
every scrap of paper he has written on or hear every
studio out-take that he has rejected. With that in
mind, I ask if it was a big deal for him to sign his
name on each of the Drawn Blank paintings. “Yes!”
he exclaims, laughing. “I finally grew into it, but yes,
it was.” And did he perhaps practise his signature
in advance? “I did, because it’s tricky getting it just
right. Finally you think, ‘Oh, to hell...’ and just go
for it, like you’re writing a cheque or something.”
He has, he says, no particular favourite among
the images. “It’s the same as with the early songs...
In the Sixties, by the time they came out we were
way past the recorded versions and were saying,
‘No, don’t release that. We are playing it this way
now.’ So it is with the art. I find myself thinking,
‘I could have done this or that to make it better.’
In the end, though, you’ve just got to let the work
go and hope you’ll know to do better next time.”
When I ask if he finds the art establishment
preferable to the one he is more used to, Dylan
grins and pulls a face of mock disgust. “The music
world’s a made-up bunch of hypocritical rubbish.
I know from publishing a memoir [2004’s Chronicles
Train Tracks
Woman in Red Lion Pub
Woman on Bed
Volume One] that the book people are a whole
it didn’t clash with any other commitments.
lot saner. And the art world? From the small steps
If something does, then I simply cannot do it.”
I’ve taken in it, I’d say, yeah, the people are honest,
By commitments, one presumes Dylan means
upfront and deliver what they say. Basically, they
not just his touring schedule but also his personal
are who they say they are. They don’t pretend.
and familial relationships. Only the bald facts are
And having been in the music world most of my
known in this regard. He has four grown-up children
life [he laughs again], I can tell you it’s not that
(Jesse, Anna Lea, Samuel and rock singer Jakob)
way. Let’s just say it’s less... dignified.”
from a 10-year marriage to former model Sara
He tells me that he continued to draw for his
Lowndes that ended in divorce in 1977. And in 2001
pleasure after the Random House commission
it was revealed by a biographer that he was married
was fulfilled. “Not as intensely but yes, I have
from 1986 to 1992 to one of his former backing
sketchbooks from the years since then. Of course,
singers, Carol Dennis, and has another daughter,
what I release to the public and what I keep for
Desiree, also now an adult, from the union.
myself are two different things.”
But inquiries about his non-work life cause him
He has had proposals
to shut down. Not even a fact
for two future series of
as basic as that of where he
“The music world’s
paintings, the first of which
lives (his main home is believed
a made-up bunch of
would involve having
to be a mansion on the coast
hypocritical rubbish.
celebrities sit for him.
beyond Los Angeles) receives
The
book
world
is
a
lot
“I could pick the names
ready validation, and when
saner. Having been in
but don’t want to. I’d rather
I ask if he has a studio in which
be given a list and have
he worked on the paintings,
the music world most of
someone else contact the
he will offer only, “Well, there
my life... let’s just say
people to find out if they’re
are spaces in some of the
it’s less ...dignified”
up for it. So I’m waiting
properties where I can do just
to see who they might be
about any old thing”, before
thinking of. I assume it’s movers and shakers.
looking off into the middle distance, awaiting the
You know, inventors, mathematicians, scientists,
next question.
business people, actors... We’ll see.
Such reticence has earned him a reputation as
“But what interests me more is the idea of a
rock’s grumpy old man, a curmudgeon who refuses
collection based on historically romantic figures:
to appear grateful that he is revered and adored.
Napoleon and Josephine, Dante and Beatrice,
But whether or not he intends it to do so, such
Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, Brad and
determined self-protection merely enhances the
Angelina [here he laughs]... I could use my own
myth and mystery. Today and after spending much
imagination for that. It wouldn’t have to be the actual
of the 1980s through to the mid-1990s out in the
people, obviously.” But the latter two might be
critical cold, Dylan’s star is higher than at any time
delighted to sit for him, no? Dylan chuckles. “Maybe.
since the 1960s, the decade with which he is
Who knows? All I’ll say is that I’m intrigued by the
most closely associated (erroneously in his view).
basic idea. Whether or not it comes to fruition, time
Honours, awards and citations all but rain down
will tell. This [exhibition] was easy to do because
upon him these days: it is as if we have all >>
sunday 25
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Press Cuttings
Bob Dylan - The Drawn Blank Series 2008
Sunday Star Times magazine
Sunday 22 June 2008
Circ. 200,000
profile
awoken to the fact that we will not see his like again.
unreleased or rare material alongside alternative versions
“Writing any kind of
Not that anyone doubts that he has a long life still to live.
of existing tracks recorded between 1989 and 2006.
book is a lonely thing…
“Well, thank you for that!” he notes with a laugh.
Coming on top of the recent award to him of a
You have to disassociate
For any further insights into his private world we must
special Pulitzer prize recognising “his profound impact
and detach yourself
wait to see if any crumbs are thrown in the next instalment
on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical
from just about
of the intended three-book Chronicles (“I could do more.
compositions of extraordinary poetic power” (“I hope they
everything
and
It wouldn’t be a problem in terms of material”), at which
don’t ask for it back!”), all of this would suggest that he
everybody… I didn’t
he is already at work. Yes, he allows, he was gratified by
has arrived at a very creative but also contented period
like that part of it all”
the critical and commercial success of Volume One.
within his life. “I’ve always felt that,” he says. “It’s just
“Especially given the effort that went into it. Writing
sometimes I’ve got more going on than at other times.”
any kind of book is a lonely thing. You cut yourself off from
But life is good? “To me, it’s never been otherwise.”
friends and family to find that necessarily quiet place in your mind. You have
My time with Dylan is up and we stand in preparation for my leaving
to disassociate and detach yourself from just about everything and everybody.
the room. As a last aside, I ask for his take on the US political situation
I didn’t like that part of it at all.
in the run-up to November’s presidential election.
“It took me maybe two years in total. I was touring so much in the beginning.
“Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval,” he says.
On days off or on a bus, I’d write my thoughts out in longhand or on a typewriter.
“Poverty is demoralising. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity
It was the transcribing of the stuff, the rereading and retelling of it, that was
when they are poor. But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining
time-consuming and I came to figure that there had to be a better way. I know
the nature of politics from the ground up... Barack Obama. He’s redefining
what that is now. You need a full-time secretary so that you can get the ideas
what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful?
down immediately, then deal with them later.”
Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”
Meanwhile, there is the continuing delight that is his own radio show (he
He offers a parting handshake. “You should always take the best from the
smiles at the mention of it), Theme Time Radio Hour With Your Host Bob Dylan,
past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future,” he notes
the brainchild of America’s XM Satellite Radio. And later this year he will release
as the door closes between us. N
a further volume within the ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, featuring
For more of Dylan’s art, see www.halcyongallery.com and www.bobdylanart.com
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