9 May - 9 November 2022

Drawn Blank in Provence

Bob Dylan

Coinciding with his 'Rail Car' sculpture unveiling at Château La Coste, Bob Dylan’s exceptional first painting exhibition in France, 'Drawn Blank in Provence' presents the artist’s work in a new context, highlighting novel aspects of Dylan’s artistic practice.

Selected Works

Infused with the radiant light of Provence and displayed in Château La Coste’s Renzo Piano-designed art gallery, this exhibition presents 23 unseen canvases from The Drawn Blank Series, an important collection of Bob Dylan’s work created between 2007-2009.

Capturing passing snapshots of life on the road, anonymous figures and hidden-away places, the paintings are based on images sketched by Dylan, reflecting his travels in Europe and America between 1989-1991. The diverse scenes – still-life, landscape, cityscape, seascape, or portrait – are enlivened with Dylan’s varied perspectives and bursts of intense, piercing colour. Compositions of earthy tones alongside soaring blues unite select groupings of paintings, irrespective of subject matter.

As art historian Joachim Pissarro describes, within this ‘Dylan-esque entanglement of forms and colours, allusions to the art historical canon echo from his canvases’. Works by some of the most important Impressionist and modern artists, including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, are exhibited here opposite Dylan’s canvases to shine light on some of his artistic inspirations.

A focus display of one of Dylan’s large-scale triptych landscapes, created in 2021, is also installed in the Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery until 5th June, to run alongside the unveiling of Rail Car.

'Tragedy and comedy both would be the twin pillars of all the thoughts, feelings, and opinions in any one of my paintings. Basically, all my paintings, or songs for that matter, are borrowed from the great shared history of consciousness. Whatever I do it usually begins there.'

Bob Dylan, 2022

Drawn Blank in Provence, Renzo Piano Exhibition Pavilion, 2022

Drawn Blank in Provence, Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery, 2022

Drawn Blank in Dylan's Own Words

These drawings are sketches for paintings that either never were painted, have yet to be painted, (or more likely never will be painted). They are done mostly by pencil, some by charcoal and spotlight and a few by pen. Those familar with the mediums can easily tell which is which.

They were done over a two- or three year period from about 1989 to about 1991 or '92 in various locations mainly to relax and refocus a restless mind. My drawing instructor in high school lectured and demonstrated continuously to "draw only what you can see" so that if you were at a loss for words, something could be explained and even more importantly, not misunderstood.

Rather than fantasize, be real and draw it only if it is in front of you and if it's not there, put it there and by making the lines connect, we can vaguely get at something other than the world we know.

Bob Dylan

September 1994

Bob Dylan at Château La Coste

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Drawn Blank in Provence | Paul Green in conversation with Joachim Pissarro, Art Historian and Curator

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'Amplified by the radiance of Provence, Bob Dylan’s 2022 exhibition at Château La Coste reactivates the artist’s aesthetic and poetic imaginary forces in kinship with several twentieth-century artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso chief among them, both having resided in the south of France for decades.'

Joachim Pissarro, Art Historian and Curator, 2022

Stories

Bob Dylan: Rail Car at Château La Coste, France

9 May 2022

Rail Car - an immersive, ironwork freight car installation set on train tracks – engages prominent motifs in Dylan’s art, as well as relating to aspects of his past.

Contact us for more information on Bob Dylan's artworks and Drawn Blank in Provence at Château La Coste.

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Bob Dylan: Rail Car at Château La Coste, France

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Bob Dylan at the Frost Museum, Miami

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