![]() What visual artists inspire you? Are you inspired by other musicians that make visual art?Īn amateur artist borrows. I originally went to New York to go the Art Students League and in the meantime, I got a record deal. I’ve been making visual art for as long as I can remember. How long have you been making visual art? Was this something that you did during your initial music career? To get an idea of Mellencamp's art, we wanted to ask him about this new show and the visual portion of his artistic career. Heavily influenced by the German Expressionists, such as Otto Dix and Max Beckmann, whose anguish over human brutality and corruption speaks to his deep feelings about social justice, Mellencamp’s imagery takes its inspiration from the same sources as his music: the oppressive authority and social struggles of the working man and woman. This will be Mellencamp’s second solo exhibition with ACA Galleries in New York City, and will showcase two bodies of work: Mellencamp’s sculptural assemblages, and a series of portraits. To learn more about John Mellencamp’s art, you can visit his site here.The acclaimed musician, agriculture activist, actor, and painter, John Mellencamp, is opening a new exhibition titled Life, Death, Love, Freedom. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngston, Ohio, 2013 Mellencamp: Paintings and Reflections. And like his music, the paintings are carefully composed through the structural requirements of harmony, rhythm and order. Mellencamp’s imagery thus takes its inspiration from the same sources as his music: the struggles of the working man and woman, oppressive authority and social struggle. ![]() But though that foundation is German, the evolved result is decidedly American, with the brash and snappy visual rhythms of our streets, our lives, our politics, angers and passions. His kinship with the Expressionist artists, both by inheritance-he is the descendant of German immigrants-and attitude, served as the foundation for the development of Mellencamp’s own oeuvre. The German Expressionism of the early twentieth century, with its anguish over human brutality and corruption, spoke to Mellencamp’s deep feelings about social justice. He evolved a style of portraiture influenced by the paintings of the German Expressionists, particularly Max Beckmann and Otto Dix. Though his musical career flourished, Mellencamp also continued painting and began to paint earnestly in the 1980s as a means of further artistic exploration. He had his first formal training at the Art Students League, with portraitist David Leffel, where he discovered German art and the work of Twentieth – Century Modernists such as Walt Kuhn and Chaim Soutine. Later, he came to New York with the intention of studying painting if his music-career aspirations didn’t work out. ![]() Raised in Indiana and influenced by his mother who painted in the family home throughout his childhood, Mellencamp’s urge to paint started at ten years of age when he began experimenting with oils. He has had solo exhibitions at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio the Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, the Museum of Art-Deland, Florida and the Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia. He is also an accomplished painter who has seriously pursued painting for more than 35 years. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and recipient of The Woody Guthrie Award. ![]() Known primarily for his music, Mellencamp, is a legendary musician and long-time activist. The creative spirit often finds multiple expressions and such is the case with John Mellencamp.
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