Bob Dylan: MOOD SWINGS

Posted October 31, 2013 by artBahrain in Spotlight

Bob Dylan’s iron works launched in major solo exhibition

Bob Dylan, 2013 © John Shearer

Halcyon Gallery is proud to present a major exhibition of new works by artist and musician Bob Dylan, which will open at Halcyon Gallery this November. Building on the success of his first museum exhibition in Chemnitz, Germany in 2007 and several subsequent exhibitions, Mood Swings will show iron works by Bob Dylan for the first time, alongside original works on canvas and signed limited editions, all of which will be for sale.

Iron gates welded out of vintage iron and other metal parts created by Dylan in his studio will be featured in the exhibition and will be displayed publicly for the first time. These gates and other objects are the outcome of the artist’s lifelong fascination with welding and metalwork.

These raw, industrial artworks often appear representative of a different state of mind; a different place for the artist. The gates are imbued with the stories brought to them by objects from which they are created such as a wrench, a roller skate, a meat grinder and lawn tools. There is even a reference to the artist as musician with the use of musical notes, a treble clef and a guitar among the objects included in the iron works.

Of his new exhibition, Bob Dylan said:

I’ve been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country – where you could breathe it and smell it every day. And I’ve always worked with it in one form or another. Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.”

Mood Swings will also include a new collection of original silkscreen works on canvas.

Paul Green, President of the Halcyon Gallery, commented:

The forthcoming exhibition will be the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Bob Dylan’s art to date. While Dylan has been a committed visual artist for more than four decades, this exhibition will cast new light on one of the world’s most important and influential cultural figures of our time. His iron works demonstrate his boundless creativity and talent. As these artworks are made at home, not on the road, they give us a rare glimpse into another part of the artist’s own personal universe.”

Internationally known as a singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan is also an author, film director, actor, radio host and visual artist. He has sold over 110 million records around the world and continues to tour extensively, logging up more than 2,500 shows since 1988.

Halcyon Gallery has four galleries located in London and Shanghai.

The exhibition opens on 16 November 2013 and runs until 25 January 2014.

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