Drawn Blank

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In June, Dylan released his 39th studio album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. An international sensation, the album hit the Top Ten in 15 countries, including #1 chart entries in the Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Guardian called the album a 'testament to his eternal greatness', while the LA Times dubbed it a 'savage pulp noir masterpiece'. In 2011, New York based gallery Gagosian held an exhibition of Dylan's Asia Series of controversial acrylic paintings. Mondo Scripto opened at Halcyon Gallery in London. The exhibition presented a selection of Bob Dylan’s most iconic songs, handwritten in pen on paper and accompanied with a corresponding drawing in graphite, also on paper. As Tom Piazza, a celebrated novelist and writer on American music, writes in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, 'Dylan’s restlessly creative mind is never wholly satisfied, and those familiar with these songs will find surprise at many a new turn of phrase. The unexpected couplings of these works and images offer a surprisingly intimate door into each song, adding dimension, delight and insight into the artist’s relation to his own work.' I don’t really associate them with any particular time or place or state of mind,” explained Dylan, “but view them as part of a long arc…One can be profoundly influenced by events in Morretes, Brazil, as they can be by the man who sells El Pais in Madrid.” The Drawn Blank Series focuses on three years of Dylan’s artistic career, from 1989 to 1992. The works were drawn whilst touring America, Europe and Asia and reveal a personal insight into “a life lived out of a suitcase” [Andrew Graham-Dixon].The artist’s journeys between cities and towns are personified by his expressionist lines, which capture the instant moment of a place, person and time. Repeated motifs encourage the viewer to explore the depths of colour and the evolution of his work.

Not only are some of Dylan’s earlier shows not yet entirely sold out — a good indicator of a print’s investment value — but his work also sells for less or the same as its original gallery costs on the secondary market. Bob Dylan was one of the foremost figures of the beat generation. His music spoke of a time of great social change. Songs such as "The Times Are a-Changin" and "Blowing In The Wind" have immortalised an era for the enjoyment and inspiration of future generations. A collection of Bob Dylan's drawings and sketches, made while on a tour of America, Europe and Asia between 1989 and 1992, were published in 'Drawn Blank' in 1994. These drawings were re-worked and first shown at a museum exhibition in Germany in autumn 2007, and at Halcyon Gallery, London in 2008 to huge critical acclaim. In 2010 an exhibit of additional paintings premiered at the National Gallery of Denmark, in Copenhagen. What followed was an artistically significant publishing programme which continues to draw great interest as a source of insight into Bob Dylan. Throughout the series, viewers may recognise echoes of Dylan's music, as he translates his lyrical sensibility onto the canvas. His portrayal of human figures, cityscapes, and landscapes exudes a distinctive sense of fleeting moments frozen in time, inviting viewers to dive into the soul of the portrayed subjects and experience their narratives. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, he would introduce himself as "Bob Dylan" during his early performances, a change inspired by his favorite poet Dylan Thomas. In an interview, Dylan said: "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free."When Dylan first drew the works in this series he had intended to create paintings based upon them. Ingrid Mössinger’s proposed exhibition encouraged him to now do this using watercolour and gouache. “I was fascinated to learn of Ingrid’s interest in my work and it gave me impetus to realize the vision I had many years on” commented Bob Dylan. These paintings formed the collection entitled The Drawn Blank Series . Bob Dylan created a collection of drawings that were published in a book entitled Drawn Blank in 1994. These expressive works captured Dylan’s chance encounters and observations whilst travelling on tour between 1989 and 1992, creating portraits, land and cityscapes, interiors, nudes and still life were done to “relax and refocus a restless mind”. The exhibition is curated by Ms. Katharine J. Wright, Consulting Curator EXHIBITION MATERIALS– High resolution images, captions, wall texts. He’s celebrated across the globe for his revolutionary music, with the Independent newspaper naming him ‘the most important figure in pop-culture history’ in 2011. But it isn’t just songs like ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ that have made Bob Dylan one of the world’s most influential people; his foray into fine art continues to take centre stage. Since his first exhibition, Dylan has been producing art more and more prolifically, especially as the pandemic brought his constant touring to a sudden halt. Just like his music, Bob Dylan’s art is inspired by a wide range of sources — with pieces drawing on trends from French Impressionism, German Expressionism, surrealism, cubism and even Film Noir-esque aesthetics.

In short, if you are looking for a return over the short to medium term, other artists outperform Bob Dylan. In 2019, he held his retrospective Retrospectrum exhibition at MAM Shanghai, which went on to open at Today's Art Museum in Beijing in July 2020. Featuring his artistic output to date, the tour will cover Asia, Europe and the USA. Dylan dates the origins of his work as a visual artist to the early 1960s. A few drawings reached the public gaze with album covers like Music from Big Pink(1968) and Self Portrait(1970). In 1974, Dylan spent two seminal months studying art with Ashcan School tutor Norman Raeben, who philosophised the importance of 'perceptual honesty' - painting life as it as seen, not imagined.Dylan says of this time: "He put my mind and my hand and my eye together, in a way that allowed me to do consciously what I unconsciously felt."As a fine-artist, Bob Dylan began drawing in the 1960's to pass time whilst recovering from a motorbike crash. His work was first brought to public attention in 1994 with the publication of the Drawn Blank book, a compilation of drawings and sketches made between 1989 and 1992 whilst on tour in America, Asia and Europe.

Coinciding with the Frost Art Museum's new Retrospectrum exhibition, Bob Dylan's latest release sees two of the first-ever paintings from his iconic The Drawn Blank Series collection recreated as an exclusive set of limited edition graphics. Hand-signed by the Nobel laureate and Grammy Award-winning musician, these highly collectible works revisit the origins of the artistic style of one of the world's most influential cultural icons. Capturing passing snapshots of life on the road, anonymous figures and hidden-away places, the paintings are based on images sketched by Dylan, reflecting his travels in Europe and America between 1989-1991. The diverse scenes – still-life, landscape, cityscape, seascape, or portrait – are enlivened with Dylan’s varied perspectives and bursts of intense, piercing colour. Compositions of earthy tones alongside soaring blues unite select groupings of paintings, irrespective of subject matter.

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Museum curators are provided with extensive information and may curate the exhibition to their specifications. Painting several versions of the same image using different colours and tones result in a dynamic variety of impressions, feelings and emotions. The choice and skill applying a different colour arrangement to the same original drawing enable Dylan to express hi feeling and perception of an idea or a view, continually evoking different feelings and reactions and thus creating evolving works of art. DISPLAY– Requires approx. 100-110 linear meters (325-375 linear feet), depending on the installation. Collection is comprehensive, covering a substantial part of the artist’s body of work making it capable of serving as a stand-alone exhibition.

Since releasing his debut studio album, Bob Dylan, in 1962, Dylan's cultural influence has extended beyond music to encompass art and literature. In 2016, he became the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for 'having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition'. Such is his effect on wider culture that 'Dylanology' - the study of Dylan's work - has canonised his songwriting, poetry and art for new generations to dissect and interpret. At Harvard University, Dylan's work is taught by its Professor of the Classics, Richard F. Thomas, alongside the Roman poets Ovid and Virgil. Bob Dylan has been sketching since the early 1960s, although his work was only shown to the public and made available to buy in 2008. Dylan tends to take on different artistic styles in each of his series, which are generally inspired by the countries and cities he has travelled through whilst on tour. His Beaten Path collection, for example, saw him replicate the American heartlands in broad swaths of watercolour and acrylic on canvas, whilst the more recent Mondo Scripto series features graphite illustrations based on and accompanying his own lyrics. A landmark retrospective exhibition, Retrospectrum, featuring Dylan’s artistic output to date opened at MAM Shanghai, before beginning a tour that will cover Asia, Europe and the USA. The exhibition, which later opened at Today’s Art Museum in Beijing and the Jupiter Museum of Art in Shenzhen, re-examined The Drawn Blank Series, The New Orleans Series, Mood Swings, The Beaten Path, and works from Mondo Scripto. Infused with the radiant light of Provence and displayed in Château La Coste’s Renzo Piano-designed art gallery, this exhibition presents 23 unseen canvases from The Drawn Blank Series, an important collection of Bob Dylan’s work created between 2007-2009 .

Upon their first release in the Drawn Blank book in 1994, Dylan’s sketches wowed critics and viewers alike with their confident hand and raw honesty. Capturing his chance encounters and observations whilst on tour, the release of The Drawn Blank Series in 2008 marked his UK fine art debut. The Drawn Blank series reveals the artist's penchant for experimentation and spontaneity, with each brushstroke imbued with a raw and visceral energy. While Dylan's artistic style may appear deceptively simple at first glance, it is this very unpretentiousness that allows the observer to connect deeply with the essence of his compositions. Upon their first release in the Drawn Blank book in 1994, Dylan’s sketches wowed critics and viewers alike with their confident hand and raw honesty. Capturing his chance encounters and observations whilst on tour, the release of The Drawn Blank Seriesin 2008 marked his UK fine art debut. Although Bob Dylan is best known as a singer and songwriter, he is also a writer, film director, actor, radio broadcaster and artist. His brushstrokes are like his voice: straightforward, rough, occasionally fragile. He's not after artistic perfection but something larger, a moment, a feeling. The effect is enthralling.”