Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Inspired by Saved! A Dylan-Themed Painting by Claude-Angele BONI


Over the course of many decades of Bob Dylan's career, countless lists of Bob's best songs, best albums and rankings have been published. A recent article on ExpectingRain.com ranked ALL of Dylan's songs from 1 to 382 or something like that. (Brittanica.com says he's written 500+, but I will overlook the shortcoming in that list. I've personally thought the number closer to 600.) 

That task certainly required a monumental amount of work and seems immensely challenging because there are simply so many great songs. How narrow down even a top 10 list. Believe me, I've tried. 

The point of that intro is to make this observation: I don't believe I have ever seen Saved in a top ten Dylan albums list, and maybe not even in a top 25 list. Yet truthfully, when it comes to earnest energy and passion, this album has a lot of great songs. 

Granted, it's unflinchingly saturated in Gospel earnestness, which doesn't create an enthusiasm for repeated listenings if one is adamantly opposed to this kind of thing. So be it. I personally think a lot of these songs should be sung in church. I mean, why not? 

I share this by way of introduction to French artist Claude-Angele BONI's painting, Saved! Her evocative representations frequently remind me of Dali's memorable landscapes and symbolic imagery.

I'd planned to publish this on Pentecost Sunday. It is Ms. Claude-Angele BONI's portrayal of Bob Dylan's evolution over the years. Here is her explanation in her own words.

Upper half...

Dylan casting the dice as: DYLAN-MAN / as every man he is at first an adolescent contesting the image of the father, then in search of love at any price he looks for good fortune.

Dylan flying  with horns as: DYLAN-SATAN (which means  the Outlaw-Dylan who sings "but all my fathers they've gone down." ( In Christianity and Islam, in both of those two religions of Abraham, Satan is usually seen as either a fallen angel or a jinn, who used to possess great piety and beauty, but rebelled against God,) 

Lower left

In the lower left quadrant you've got DYLAN-ADAM  holding a book of behavior in one hand and giving a name to an animal. 

Lower right

In the lower right you've got DYLAN-BORN AGAIN dressed as Jesus. He is a father now and he needs some help from his Master. "Lord protect my child"  

"I was under the influence of Slow Train Coming and Saved when I did it. It's more a painting on the ASCENSION than the PENTECOST but it fits the same."

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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 9, 2021 at 2:04 AM

    Thanks ED, I met Bob Dylan before I had finished to paint this painting. I needed a model for his hands and feet.. so, as he was playing in Avignon, France, I had the idea to find him there and to ask him if he wanted to be my model for a while. In 1981 Bob was easy to meet, as a Christian his heart was wide open to almost everybody, so... Thanks God, he agreed, he has been my model for an hour or so on July 25 1981.

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