[atlantaprog] Paint it black - then sell it - art work by the rock legend

Paint it black - then sell it 

Adrian Searle 
Wednesday December 15, 2004
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>  

Rolling and tumbling on to Cork Street, I heard screams rending the air from 
the Royal Academy, where yet another academic auto-da-fé was in progress. Or 
was it Ronnie Wood's fans, clamouring to get inside one of the vanity-showcase 
galleries on what used to be the art world's Street of Shame? Here the Rolling 
Stones guitarist is holding what his press material describes as "an exclusive 
one-man exhibition of art work by the rock legend". Pre-opening, the lights 
were off, and some business types sat around name-dropping and talking deals. 
Mr Rock Legend's work is best seen in a smoky twilight, a little Schubert 
wafting in the background. 

Celebrity art is nearly always terrible - think Paul McCartney, or the Queen of 
Denmark's paintings. Miles Davis and Captain Beefheart should have stuck to 
what they did best. For most art college-trained popsters, their music is art 
by other means. Ronnie is an exception. 

He's not bad, just boring, though Peter Blake praises him in a smarmy 
introduction to Wood's collected prints (a £65 paperback). Would you buy some 
recycled album cover artwork from this guru to the stars? Blake aside, Wood can 
at least draw, in a wristy, Ealing art school sort of way. No Jumping Jack 
Flash-in-the-pan, except when he chills, doing a solitary watercolour challenge 
in Provence or on some palm-fringed beach. The rest is all megabucks pop world 
art; even when he paints a chimp, it looks like Keef. 

According to the label on the wall, Eric Clapton has sold out, which comes as 
no surprise. There are only two left of the special edition, "printed on 
canvas" pic of the Stones doing an end-of-gig bow. What's the regular edition - 
printed on recycled cardboard, or do they just chop out Bill Wyman? 

You might get Alex Higgins cheap, but not twinkly eyed Jack Nicholson doing his 
cheeky smile. Here, though, everyone is special. Mick mouths the mike, Charlie 
is cool and glum, especially when Wood makes him look like Max Wall. Rod the 
Mod pairs up with Al. Would that be Jolson? 

I recognise Elvis, copied from a photo, and that Jim Morrison out of Westlife. 
Sorry, I'm no good at rock stars, though I do recognise Walter Matthau, in a 
sensitive pen and ink drawing that proves Wood has looked at Rembrandt - the 
artist formerly known as REM. 



 

 

Stan Woodard
Communications Director
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
535 Means Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
404 688 1970 Ext 213
swoodard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:swoodard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
www.thecontemporary.org 
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