Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's visual art career began with private sketches made alongside his life as a musician. He has traced this practice back to the early 1960s, when drawing helped him organise the world around him. His first widely known artwork appeared on the cover of The Band's 1968 album Music from Big Pink.

In 1994, Drawn Blank published 92 black-and-white drawings made during years of touring. These works later evolved into The Drawn Blank Series, shown in Germany in 2007 and London in 2008. Dylan reworked his sketches in mixed media and acrylic, using colour as a form of visual variation.

These paintings reflected his travels, his interest in art history and his eye for characters and places.