Bob Dylan has not often been one to explain himself. He’s written little about his music, and has generally evaded any questions about the meaning of his lyrics. But for a new exhibit of his artwork at the Halcyon Gallery in London, called The Beaten Path, Dylan has penned an essay about these works, discussing his intentions.
In the essay, published in Vanity Fair, Dylan explains that:
For this series of paintings, the idea was to create pictures that would not be misinterpreted or misunderstood by me or anybody else.
He goes on to say:
The watercolors and acrylics done here purposely show little or no emotion, yet I would say they are not necessarily emotionally stringent. The attempt was made to represent reality and images as they are without idealizing them. My idea is to compose works that create stability, working with generalized, universal, and easily identifiable objects.
This is Dylan’s most arresting series of paintings, and one that is likely to make more people appreciate his skills as a visual artist.
You can take a virtual tour of part of the exhibit and see more of the works. In this tour, you see two versions of Endless Highway, the image pictured above. I’ve ordered a print of this; it’s by far the most impressive of the fifteen prints that have recently gone on sale (and sold out) from the collection. I hope that the second Endless Highway becomes available as a print in the future.