POP ART

Numerous rock'n'pop artistes have proven dab hands with other artforms over the decades. RC artist Paul Bowler paints a picture of some of those who work on other canvases

It's no surprise that so many musos paint. The disciplines have consistently intertwined as fledgling stars started along their creative paths by attending art school, from John Lennon to Jeff Beck, Ray Davies, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Syd Barrett, Christine McVie, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Ferry, Pete Townshend, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. The latter quipped, "In Britain, there was always this joke that you went to art school to learn to play blues guitar." Others who've hit the easel include Frank Sinatra, Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Grace Slick, John Mellencamp, Michael Jackson, The Who's John Entwistle, Bon Jovi's Tico Torres, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Michael Cartellone, Def Leppard's Rick Allen, Renaissance's Annie Haslam, Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, PAKT's Tim Motzer, Marilyn Manson, Ani DiFranco, Juliana Hatfield, Robyn Hitchcock, Patti Smith, and Ryan Adams, plus sculptors Nick Cave and Miley Cyrus.

Alongside his music, Bob Dylan has forged a prolific, celebrated career as a painter. His work presents a highly personal snapshot of his itinerant lifestyle, captured brilliantly in his 1994 book, Drawn Blank, compiling pieces produced on tour. Exhibited at many galleries, his work has been offered extensively at auction, prices ranging from $1,500 to $38,079 for his Side Tracks (part of a series dedicated to railways), sold at Rosebery's Fine Art Auctioneers, in 2022. A hand-signed, limited-run silkscreen art print of a 2022 painting, Sunset, Monument Valley, commands £25,000 at castlefineart.com.