Bob Dylan turns his hand to heavy metal (work) by indulging his passion for making GATES

Bob Dylan is many things - a singer and songwriter, author, film director, actor and radio host.

He’s also, it transpires, a huge heavy metal fan, especially iron gates. What’s more, he actually makes them – and for the first time the gates, welded out of vintage iron and other metal parts, will go on public display.

They will appear at the Halcyon Gallery in London at an exhibition called Mood Swings, alongside original works on canvas and signed limited editions, all of which will be for sale.

Weld I never: Bob Dylan at his iron works studio

Dylan wrote in his auto-biography, Chronicles, that he had ‘arc-welding equipment’ at his Malibu home and enjoyed making ‘ornate iron gates out of junk scrap metal’.

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However, Dylan is known for being elusive and not always forthcoming with concrete facts about his personal life, so many people took this with a pinch of salt.

However, it turns out that Dylan has a lifelong fascination with welding and metalwork and the gate-making remark was entirely true.

Better gate than never: Dylan has revealed that he's held a life-long fascination with welding and metal work

Wroughts and all exhibition: Dylan's handiwork will be on display from November 16 at the Halcyon Gallery iin London

He said: ‘I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country - where you could breathe it and smell it every day. And I've always worked with it in one form or another.

‘Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.’

Paul Green, President of the Halcyon Gallery, commented: ‘The forthcoming exhibition will be the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Bob Dylan’s art to date. While Dylan has been a committed visual artist for more than four decades, this exhibition will cast new light on one of the world’s most important and influential cultural figures of our time.

 

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Hot stuff: All of Dylan's works will be for sale at the London exhibition

Airy: Dylan says he likes gates because they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow

‘His iron works demonstrate his boundless creativity and talent. As these artworks are made at home, not on the road, they give us a rare glimpse into another part of the artist's own personal universe.’
Bob Dylan has sold over 110 million records around the world and continues to tour extensively, logging up more than 2,500 shows since 1988.
The free exhibition, Bob Dylan Mood Swings, opens at the Halcyon Gallery, 144-146 New Bond Street, on 16 November 2013 and runs until 25 January 2014. Visit www.halcyongallery.com for more details.

Early years: Bob Dylan pictured in the 1960s in Minneapolis, Minnesota

A portrait of Bob Dylan, taken prior to the release of the album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan