Retrospectrum is the most expansive and in-depth exhibition of Bob Dylan’s artwork ever staged in the United States. Spanning six decades, Retrospectrum features over 180 paintings, drawings, ironwork, and ephemera, showcasing the development and range of Dylan’s visual practice, in tandem with that of his musical and literary canon.
The show spans some 60 years of Dylan’s career and includes what an exhibition description calls “immersive and interactive displays” that “simultaneously illuminate the context of his artistic evolution, in tandem with Dylan’s musical and literary canon.” It was curated, for its 2019 premiere in China and now in its amended form in Miami, by Shai Baitel, MAM’s artistic director.
Much like his music, Dylan’s visual oeuvre spans a broad swath of styles and genres. But whereas his nasal voice would give away even the most out-there tune as a Dylan original, no such clue connects his artwork. From painted depictions of cramped urban cityscapes (think Edward Hopper) and yawning Western vistas to a series of sculptural gates made from welding together a hodgepodge of metal materials, they don’t necessarily seem to be from one man’s hand.
In a press release about the show, the ever-elusive and enigmatic Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, said, “Seeing many of my works years after I completed them is a fascinating experience. I don’t really associate them with any particular time or place or state of mind, but view them as part of a long arc; a continuing of the way we go forth in the world and the way our perceptions are shaped and altered by life. One can be as profoundly influenced by events in Morretes, Brazil, as they can be by the man who sells El País in Madrid.”
Through April 17, 2022
Standard tickets cost $16 for Adults and $12 for Seniors.
FREE of charge to: all children under 17 years of age; FIU faculty, staff, and students; “Museum on Us” Museum Pass program holders (Miami-Dade Public Library System); active duty military members; military veterans; healthcare professionals, and first responders; and ALL Florida educators with a valid ID.
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