Dylan’s new collection of paintings, Deep Focus (2020-21), draws on the documentary candor of photography and film, as well as their ability to manipulate reality through cropping and framing. The title of the series refers to a cinematic technique that communicates narrative through the foreground, middle, and background, rather than focussing on one visual plane over another.
Dylan’s cinematic references result in evocative, often mysterious, compositions suspended between life and theater, while conjuring a distinctly tangible pictorial experience. Although these new works more prominently depict figures and portraits, much of the iconography that featured in Dylan’s earlier series The Beaten Path is still recognizable-diners, roadsides, city streets, and motels
Torn Curtain
Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 185
Closing Time, 2019.
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
One Too Many
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 153
“William Friedkin’s 1977 film Sorcerer.”
“Bob Dylan painting has roots in Andy Milligan’s Fleshpot on 42nd Street.”
Newsstand (2021)
Acrylic on canvas, , 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 179
“In this new painting Bob Dylan has incorporated one of his magazine cover paintings from his Revisionist Art series.”
Terminal Bar (2019)
” Terminal Bar as seen in a shot from Taxi Driver.”
Misty Twilight, 2021.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122.2 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 180
“Bob Dylan’s 2021 painting “Twilight” features Alain Delon in the 1976 drama Mr. Klein.”
Open Window (2021)
Hair Brush
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 158
“Bob Dylan’s new painting “Hair Brush” is based on a scene from Rear Window.”
Rainy Night in Grand Forks
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 122.2 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 171
Cold Day
[East Harlem Elevated]
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
2020 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 159
Novelist, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 164
Flat Bed Truck, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 152
“This new Bob Dylan painting is based on a shot by photographer David Falconer, who documented the fuel crisis of the early 70’s. The photo was taken in Oregon and is in the National Archives.”
Sugar Bowl, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectum Deep Focus 162
“Richard F. Thomas is a Harvard University classicist who has studied and written about Dylan. He said in an essay for the exhibit that he found online references tying one of the paintings showing a man in a black leather jacket pouring sugar on his coffee to a scene at a diner in the 1981 film “The Loveless,” where actor Willem Dafoe embodies a biker.””Willem Dafoe in The Loveless.”
Roof Top
Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 157
Solitude, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 168
Walking the Dog, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 156
Times Square, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 165
Marlboro Man, 2021.
Guy in Bed Smoking
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 184
Florida Keys (2021)
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 167
Balcony (2021)
Acrylic on canvas, 91.7 x 122 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus ?
Glamour Girl, 2021.
Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 48 in
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 183
Pool Hall, 2020.
Acrylic on canvas, 91.5 x 183.4 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 160
Carny (2020)
Acrylic on canvas, 91.3 x 152.8 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 177
“This new Bob Dylan painting is based on a photograph titled “Vendor at State Fair, Rutland, Vermont, USA” by Jack Delano (1914 – 1997). It was shot for the Farm Security Administration in September of 1941.”
Rocker
Acrylic on canvas, 91.3 x 152.8 cm
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus ?
Echoes of James Dean in Giant (1956) suggested byIan Woodward…
The Ring (2020)
Acrylic on canvas, 91.3 x 152.8 cm
2021 Retrospectum Deep Focu 173
Frank and Buddy (2021)
Acrylic on canvas, 91.3 x 152.8 cm
517 Seventh Avenue New York City (building)
259 Bleecker Street New York City (window)
2021 Retrospectrum Deep Focus 175
Industrial Train
91.5 cm x 122.1 cm
2021 Retrospectrum
“Bob Dylan’s painting Industrial Train, available now as part of a deluxe framed set of six hand-signed, limited edition prints on paper, is based on a shot from @WilliamFriedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. Bob Dylan has also done paintings based on shots from @WilliamFriedkin’s films Sorcerer and The French Connection.”
Sources : https://www.facebook.com/EDLISAdmin/photos/oa.1380335105776649/1296106484221286
