read in NY times THE WEEK AHEAD Sept. 18 — Sept. 24

Art
Karen Rosenberg
Bob Dylan, painter? The grizzled singer-songwriter has been making art since the 1960s, often on tour, but he only recently started to exhibit these works, and he’s never shown them publicly in New York, until now. On Tuesday the Gagosian Gallery opens “BOB DYLAN: THE ASIA SERIES” at its Madison Avenue branch.
The series, described as a “visual journal,” will include scenes from Mr. Dylan’s recent trips to China, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. Dylanologists may find less to parse in these sketch-like, vaguely Expressionist paintings of local sights and personalities, than in his poems and lyrics, though works like “Opium” (which shows a woman in a pink robe lounging in a cluttered interior) and “Le Belle Cascade” (a Tokyo amusement-park scene that nods to Manet) veer from the standard tourist itinerary. The paintings from China, where Mr. Dylan made his first appearance last spring and where he was criticized for a timid set list, should be especially interesting.
It remains to be seen whether the art world will take Mr. Dylan’s paintings as seriously as his music — critics were not kind to earlier shows in London and Copenhagen — though a catalog interview with John Elderfield, the former chief curator of painting for the Museum of Modern Art, should help. Tuesday through Oct. 22, 980 Madison Avenue; (212) 744-2313, gagosian.com.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/arts/sept-18-sept-24.html?nl=nyregion&emc=urb4

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Soon opening at the Whitney

what's going on @ KENTLER INTERNATIONAL DRAWING SPACE