Unless you have been living under a rock or ruminating on the meaning of life in a cave for the past fifty years, you will immediately connect the artistic output of Ronnie Woods to the music of The Rolling Stones. There is, however, an astounding visual side to the musician’s art that is not so well known.
Ronnie’s experiences with the band provide fascinating subject matter for a range of very different collections. His aptly named Stone Raw Panels, inspired by Caravaggio’s mixture of oil and chalk mediums, brings to mind the raw necessities of early cave art. Woods’ offers muscular sketches of members of the Stones in performance, on pared back panels that are a far cry from his indulgent and light-hearted series on the same subject: Ronnie Woods Uniques. He takes a different approach with his Satisfaction Red and Satisfaction Blue series, using subtle play on colour and theme and providing a fine example of a confident artist at ease with his subject.
The artistic obsession that drives the artist to continually repeat a theme is not unusual; therefore the repeated recycling of the everyday of rockstar existence into art by Ronnie Woods is understandable, and probably impossible for him to resist. The viewer is offered a glimpse into the world of The Rolling Stones, as seen through the eyes of one of its most iconic members, and a rare chance to enjoy the band as a purely artistic subject.
