Paul McCartney, a neat and tidy painter
PUSSSYKATT
N.Y. Daily News Feature Writer
Paul McCartney's paintings are not what a lot of his fans might expect.
McCartney always has readily admitted to a neat, almost fussy side. He likes
things simple, tidy and clean, a fact splendidly reflected in his genius for
writing simple, tidy, clean pop songs.
From "Yesterday" or "When I'm 64" to "Silly Love Songs," McCartney knows how to
wrap a musical package and make it sound as if anyone could do it.
The edges are not so tidy in "Paul McCartney Paintings" (Bulfinch, $50), which
collects more than 80 of the several hundred paintings done by McCartney since
he took up the brush some 18 years ago. Many were done, incidentally, on his
summer vacations in the Hamptons.
His painting style, like his musical style, is a hybrid. That it's infused with
whimsy and bright colors won't surprise anyone. But its abstract side might.
McCartney's most direct influence is Willem de Kooning, who not coincidentally
is a close personal friend. McCartney the painter likes large, bold strokes
and, as he puts it, "following my nose" — taking an effect or notion and
following it just to see where it leads.
Sometimes it takes him to "Unfinished Symphony," which at first looks just like
random dashes of bold color, or "White Celts," whose light, subtle sketchiness
is both mysterious and intriguing.
On the other hand, "Yellow Linda With Piano" consists entirely of recognizable
objects, and wouldn't look out of place at a "Yellow Submarine" exhibit.
Nor can any fan of the Beatles fail to love "Elvish Me," a 1989 painting that
brilliantly makes McCartney and Elvis Presley into a single sideburned singer
leaning into a microphone.
An extensive text accompanies the photos, with several essays and an interview.
In one amusing exchange, McCartney says one painting reminded him of Patti
Boyd, former wife of fellow Beatle George Harrison. So he titled it —
logically enough — "Patti Boyd." The interviewer, clearly from the art rather
than the music world, asks McCartney if Boyd was his girlfriend.
While a few of the paintings take a serious tone, like the somber face in the
1993 "C Minor," their more common characteristic is a cheerful brightness,
whimsy and humor.
In 1991 he did three paintings of Queen Elizabeth — one in a very light
green, one in a dull purple and one in darker green. The three are titled,
respectively, "The Queen After Her First Cigarette," "The Queen Getting a Joke"
and "A Greener Queen."
Leaving aside the startling revelation that the queen would be involved with a
joke of any sort, this sort of playful if mild irreverence calls to mind John
Lennon's famous "just rattle your jewelry" remark to a society crowd at a
Beatles concert.
McCartney carefully notes in the book's text that he is fond of the queen,
whose 1953 coronation was a memorable event of his boyhood and who in 1996
knighted him.
McCartney is hardly the first successful musician to take up a paintbrush,
joining a crowd that ranges from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Jerry Garcia
and John Mellencamp. The creative instincts overlap, McCartney says in the
text, and he'll be available to discuss such matters at greater length during a
live online chat Thursday at 11:15 a.m. at http://chat.yahoo.com.
McCartney will take live questions and also answer some questions submitted in
advance. To put one into the mix, go to http://mccartney.yahoo.com.
Limited-edition prints of three paintings from the book will also be on display
and for sale at the Matthew Marks Gallery, 523 W. 24th St., from Nov. 2 to 9.
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