10 Things to Know About Bob Dylan's Visual Art Career

Image via Complex Original

In an interview with Bob Dylan, John Elderfield, the Chief Curator Emeritus of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, notes that Dylan would leave his sheets of lyrics and sketches behind at friends' apartments. Dylan couldn't even find his drawings when he was first asked for them.

Despite his minimal experience showing his art publicly, Dylan's celebrity title definitely helped him get picked up by the established Gagosian Gallery in New York. They showed his controversial exhibit "The Asia Series" in 2011, which ignited several heated reactions about the authenticity of his work. "Revisionist Art: Thirty Works by Bob Dylan" is a mini-retrospective that is still being displayed at the Madison Avenue gallery. Despite the high prices at a gallery like Gagosian, you can go on his website and purchase a print from Dylan's "Drawn Blank" series for a semi-affordable price.

On his IMDB page, it looks like Dylan has been on the soundtrack for every important movie, but he has actually dabbled in making some films as well. He wrote and directed Renaldo and Clara in 1978, originally a four hour film consisting of concert footage, documentary interviews, and dramatic fictional scenes that reflect Dylan's life. The film is in black and white and has artistic elements that recall the French New Wave and Cubism. The second movie he directed was Eat the Document, a documentary of his 1966 tour of the UK with the Hawks before his famous motorcycle accident. He then wrote and acted for Larry Charles' Masked and Anonymous, which tells the story of a forgotten singer who tries to make a comeback.

People were already dubious of the authenticity of Dylan's work when he premiered his "Asia Series" at the Gagosian Gallery. Many were accusing him of using photographs by celebrated photographers or images on the Internet as sources for his sketches and paintings. WNYC reports that Gagosian Gallery denied any plagiarism but allowed that Dylan used historical and archival images for inspiration.

It is clear through his collages and prominence in pop culture that Dylan would be into the aesthetics of Pop and Abstract Expressionist art. So it makes sense that like other visual artists of his era, he did not work with traditional mediums. We can imagine him hanging out at the Factory, smoking a joint, and doodling on whatever trash was left around.

It's not everyday that an artist's work gets displayed at the National Portrait Gallery, never mind that of an American artist. According to the LA Times, Dylan's show at the museum includes "a combination of fictitious characters and people from the musician's circle of acquaintances." Although his works might not say much about British culture, this show will surely give insight into Dylan's world.

It's hard to find any information about Norman Raeben that does not revolve around his influence on Bob Dylan. But Dylan expresses in his interview with John Elderfield that the man was so harsh and so critical when he took the class in 1974 that the world famous musician had to drop the class and re-evaluate his work and himself. Dylan would not say, however, that this was a negative experience for him. In fact, it may have been a necessary transformation.

The artist has expanded from 2D works into metal sculpture at his exhibition called "Mood Swings" in London, which suits his roots in industrial America. Most of Dylan's sculptures are gates made of unconventional and ready-made metal materials like chains and car parts. The reactions to his gates have been tepid, as opposed to the public's extreme reactions to his controversial paintings and sketches.

Not only were people in a frenzy about Dylan plagiarizing the work of photographers, but there are conspiracy theories floating around that claim that Richard Prince, a fan of Dylan's music and art, is making work under Dylan's name as a commentary on the artificiality of the art world and the construction of an icon in popular culture. 

Vania Heymann, a young Israeli digital artist, hopped on the opportunity to make the music video for Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," which just came out yesterday. The video is an interactive experience that allows you to change through different TV channels that all show images of people lip-syncing the lyrics to the classic song. The video is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on pop culture in America. It is fascinating to find such a technologically advanced and up-to-date video alongside a timeless and iconic song.