While Pierce Brosnan is many things to many different people (from favourite incarnation of Whitehall’s most famous super spy, James Bond to all-singing, all-dancing musical love interest in Mamma Mia), few would claim a fondness for his contemporary art skills as their reason to admire the actor-cum-artist. Yet Brosnan is clearly very good at what he does (illustratively-speaking), otherwise he wouldn’t have recently sold one of his compositional pieces for a staggering $1.4 million. But that’s precisely what the suave and sophisticated former 007 actor has gone and done, as the 65-year old’s visual homage to Bob Dylan went under the auctioneer’s hammer.
However this revelation isn’t quite that much of a revelation on learning that the GoldenEye lead actually started his career – not treading the boards like so many of his peers – but instead holed up in an alternative studio surround. Apparently Brosnan trained as a graphic designer and began his working life as an illustrator, before finding his way into a more dramatic arm of the creative industries a little further down the vocational road.
It also turns out that the Malibu home he shares with his wife houses an art studio (located in the couple’s bedroom, according to www.msn.com), where Brosnan creates his oil and acrylic-crafted figurative and landscape pieces. He went on to explain that latterly his compulsion to paint has usurped his stage and screen callings; so much so in fact that the Tomorrow Never Dies star is even considering publishing a book on the subject of art as well as staging his first public exhibition.
Of course, Brosnan isn’t the only famous face from off our TV’s who have carved out a second career for themselves on the back of a hitherto unknown graphic gift; and here at Chelmer we present the very latest limited edition releases by a host of celebrities who pursued a more hands on career in later life. Amongst those are comedian, Billy Connolly, former England cricket captain, Michael Vaughan, Rolling Stones bassist, Ronnie Wood and legendary singer/songwriter, Bob Dylan.