photo credit: BinaryApe

You saw “Bob Dylan” in the title. You came to read more. More than likely, more about his music. What might the 70 year-old rock icon be producing in 2011?

Cue the surprise:

photo credit: Cara StHilaire

Bob’s been painting, and a show of his work just opened at one of New York’s top-tier, blue ribbon exhibition spaces,

Gagosian Gallery.  

Dylan’s drawings and paintings are marked by the same constant drive for renewal that characterizes his legendary music. He often draws and paints while on tour, and his motifs bear corresponding impressions of the many different environments and people that he encounters. A keen observer, Dylan works from real life to depict everyday phenomena in such a way that they appear fresh, new, and mysterious.

Dylan has been creating visual art since the 1960s and having art shows since 2007, but The Asia Series, on display at Gagosian’s Madison Avenue space through October 22, marks his first NYC venue. At Gagosian, no less. For those whose pulse doesn’t beat to major league art galleries: Gagosian is elite. Think getting a yoga teaching gig in the premium ballroom, int the best time slots, the premiere yoga conference (whatever they may be). Not just anybody can get a show in one of the galleries founded by Larry Gagosian, “the man who changed the art world.”

 ”Larry enjoys these different types of transactions, that type of energy,” says the artist Jeff Koons. “It’s kind of like a sexual energy.”  Jeff Koons

Is Bob Dylan an accomplished visual artist? Though I haven’t seen the work in person, I’d say so. The work is impressionistic, with whispers of Matisse. Yes, he has a skilled hand with a paint brush, a eye to match his ear for composition, and a way of expressing his artistic vision in a way that I suspect will appeal to the masses. His artwork is far more “traditional” than his music was in his prime. There’s no boldness, certainly no audacity…Dylan, I’m a little disappointed. Not the rebel who became a poster child of social unrest, or nearly incited riots himself when many fans were outraged over his “going electric” in 1965.

photo credit: Sean Rogers1

But then, why should I have expectations about how he expresses himself? I’m a yogi, after all, and have practically taken vows of non-expectation. And as far as labeling people, or pigeon-holing them into being one, set, uni-dimensional individual, take me out of that cookie-cutter mindset. On the other hand, I do feel one of my eyebrows creeping up my forehead…Dylan being granted prime NYC art gallery real estate? I know plenty of artists whose work out-brilliants Bob’s by a mile. But.

Cue the “Neener-neener-neener” tune:

He’s got something they don’t have.

Celebrity. (I seem to like riding this breed of high-horse, don’t I?) Bob Dylan = a recognizable name. So, is it fame that gets people in the gallery doors, or is his artwork really significant?

I’ll share a funny story regarding the power of fame vs. talent. I began my museum career at the Orlando Museum of Art, long, long ago. At the time the museum was still small, and had just a small following of visitors. Some shows barely got a soul in the door. And then one day, Luciano Pavarotti came to town. The beloved Italian opera singer was in town for a performance, and to help showcase his stay in Orlando, the museum mounted an exhibition of his paintings.

‘I felt mysterious sensations. The desire to start painting was irresistible; I felt I had to satisfy this at all costs.’    Luciano Pavarotti

I don’t remember the exact stats, but the exhibition of Pavarotti’s pretty little landscapes was very popular. It was a blockbuster, near record-breaking attendance. Never mind that there was a controversy over his “mysterious sensations,” (some of the paintings were not images of places he had visited, as had been inferred, but copied right out of an art book), people adored it. But what were they really attracted to? The art, or to be near something touched by fame? 

  photo credit: balt-arts

Take a look at Dylan’s work. Would you be any more or less interested in seeing a show of this work if it were by Bob Nobody? Do we give celebrities (music, art, movies, yoga teachers) a lot of leeway in the quality of their work, just because they are famous, and have the awe-factor?