Works By Ronnie Wood

So when and where did it all start in Wood’s case? Well, we’ll dispense with his music career, as unless people have been living in a cave for the best part of half a century, most of us have a basic knowledge of that aspect of his Wood’s professional existence. So instead, we’ll turn out attentions to his art. Born in Hillingdon, Middlesex in 1947, Wood’s immediately family were both artistic and musical, so it came as no surprise when a young Wood showed a natural flair and inherent gift for creativity, both through art and music from a relatively early age, and would wile away hours as a child sketching this, that and the other. In fact, as a child his drawings were featured on the BBC television programme Sketch Club, whereby he won one of that programme’s competitions, and to which this very day Wood cites as being his "awakening to art".

As his brothers had before him, Wood attended Ealing College of Art in London, a seat of creative learning that had also witnessed The Who’s Pete Townsend and Queen’s Freddie Mercury come through its doors both during and after Wood’s time. All the time whilst helping to write some of the best-known tracks ever recorded and selling out stadiums across the globe while touring with the Rolling Stones, Woods was beavering away with his art as both another means of self-expression as well as providing him with a calming influence away from the cut and thrust of the rock and roll lifestyle; in which in his case was more well documented than perhaps some of his peers. Indeed, Wood himself duly observed that; “There is no kind of therapy like the one you have from starting and seeing a picture through to the end”. Wood’s painting and drawings focussed on people, including band members, other musicians of the era that the Stones toured with, family, friends…you name them, Woods drew them; including many self-portraits along the way. Colleagues noted that it was as natural seeing Wood with a pencil in his hand as much as one of his guitars backstage or on the road.

In terms of him gaining a public platform and thereafter, recognition for his works and collections, the way was paved for this in the early 1980s when Wood produced his first prints; three woodcuts and a series of monotypes. Despite not being what you might call an experience printmaker at that juncture, what he lacked in experience he made up for with enthusiasm and willingness to learn. So much so that in 1987 he chose to spend several months working in a professional printmaking studio in England, acquiring this skillset which he’s put to good use since. Wood’s has deployed many print techniques learned during this constructive period including etching, dry-point, screen-print and woodcut, and understand the exacting and complete practice necessitated for all related processes.

Wood’s initial brush with artistic fame came courtesy of his association with the San Francisco Art Exchange, with whom he has maintained a long-standing relationship with ever since, who exhibited his work for the first time on a public scale back in 1987. Over the years Wood’s work has been showcased far and wide, including in 1996 a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo in Brazil. Elsewhere, Wood’s work has appeared as exhibits across North and South America per se, as well as throughout Europe and the Far East. Wood’s paintings, drawings and prints frequently feature icons of popular culture.

When asked to describe his artistic inspirations and those who influenced him to take up and pursue art in the first place, Wood readily lists the revered likes of Egon Schiele, Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, and whilst he originally felt his way creatively through the medium of figurative and portraiture he’s equally as comfortable and professionally adept at turning his hand to landscapes, architectural and abstract should he feel that way inclined. Nowadays Wood opts to work in a pick and mix selection of materials, comprising charcoals, oils, watercolours, spray paints, oil pastels and acrylics amongst his armoury.

Wood’s latest collection saw him release a limited edition portfolio of four portraits, ‘Live Studies’, which perhaps, inevitably highlight his somewhat iconic bandmates. These originals were engineered in pen and ink and then washed with watercolours to enhance the swaggering musical presence and applied intent of Jagger and Co in their pomp and rock n roll glory, as they continue to roll back the years. Technically brilliant, Wood convincingly displays the intimacy of the relationship between subject and artist and the result is positively visceral as his work conveys all the wonder of a live concert. The South Bank Show has dedicated an entire programme to his artwork, whilst a number of his compositions hang from London’s Drury Lane Theatre, including a piece commissioned by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. What’s more, Liberty & Co. has produced a clothing line using fabrics printed with Wood's art, while Wood is also the co-proprietor (along with sons Jamie and Tyrone) of a London art gallery called Scream.