Bob Dylan will spotlight another side of his creative output this fall with “Point Blank (Quick Studies),” a new art book set for release on Nov. 18 from Simon & Schuster. The collection brings together nearly 100 of Dylan’s black-and-white drawings from 2021 and 2022, offering a rare, behind-the-scenes look at works that originally served as studies for larger paintings in his Point Blank series.
The drawings, which range from portraits and still lifes to urban landscapes and fleeting moments, reflect Dylan’s sharp observational eye. Subjects include roller-skating lovers, a karaoke singer, a canal in Paris, a suit of armor, and even a simple roll of Scotch tape. Each piece is accompanied by prose vignettes from Eddie Gorodetsky, Jackie Hamilton, and Lucy Sante, adding context to the artist’s familiar ambiguous storytelling. Sean Manning, editorial director at Simon & Schuster, describes the collection as capturing “contradictory emotions in a single image—innocent and world-weary, joyous and forlorn, humorous and sensual, enigmatic and familiar.”
Dylan’s work as a visual artist has long run parallel to his legendary music career. His drawings and paintings have appeared on album covers as early as “Self Portrait and Planet Waves,” and his gallery career formally took shape with the Drawn Blank series, first exhibited in 2007. Over the past two decades, Dylan’s visual output has expanded through exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe, with critics often noting how his paintings and drawings echo the lyricism and layered symbolism of his songwriting.
The release of “Point Blank” will coincide with the first unabridged audiobook edition of “Chronicles: Volume One,” Dylan’s celebrated 2004 memoir, read by Sean Penn. Pre-order the fall release on Amazon for $45.
