Bob Dylan is Also a Rather Accomplished Painter
- Editor OGN Daily
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
Bob Dylan is famous for his poetic lyrics and raw vocals, but the renowned singer-songwriter has long turned to another art form to “relax and refocus a restless mind”: drawing and painting.
Nearly 100 imaginative portraits, still lifes and other artworks by the renowned singer-songwriter are now on view at the Halcyon Gallery in London. Titled Point Blank, the free exhibition features colourful acrylics based on sketches that Dylan completed between 2021 and 2022. The artworks depict numerous seemingly random subjects that caught his eye, plus portraits of people engaged in various activities, such as playing guitar, riding a bicycle and drinking tea.
“The idea was not only to observe the human condition, but to throw myself into it with great urgency,” Dylan says in a statement, adding: “As to the color schemes, the idea was to create living, breathing entities that have emotional resonance - colors used as weapons and mood-setters, a means of storytelling.”
Artnet says that the artworks on display are “hazy, snapshot things.” Also commenting that Dylan is "noncommittal as to which derive from reality and which from his imagination" and that "the viewer is [encouraged] to partake in a little storytelling of their own.”
Throughout his career, the musician has released 40 studio albums, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. Along the way, he decided to try his hand at drawing and painting. “He’s always been an artist in quiet moments,” writes the London Times. “If he has been more visible in this guise recently, it’s because his usual relentless touring schedule evaporated during the pandemic and he suddenly had the opportunity to focus on painting in a new way.”
His early life and music was recently featured in A Complete Unknown. The film, which was released in 2024, is a biographical musical drama directed by James Mangold and stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, and introduced him to a whole new audience.
Point Blank is on view at the Halcyon Gallery in London until 6 July 2025.
