Wood works unzipped at True North Square

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This article was published 22/06/2022 (1571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ronnie Wood is known for his guitar-playing, but a new local exhibition shows off the Rolling Stone’s skills with a different instrument: his paintbrush.

Wood, a formally trained artist, has been painting longer than he’s been strumming, and a collection of nearly 50 of his works will be on display on the main floor of 225 Carlton St., in downtown Winnipeg, as a companion to the current Rolling Stones Unzipped exhibit, currently on at Portage Place.

As a member of the Birds, the Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and of course the Stones, Wood has one of the more enviable careers in rock and roll, with a front-row seat to nearly six decades of music history. His acclaim as a visual artist is secondary, but Wood has been praised for his wide array of styles and subjects. Among those who own Wood originals are pop singer Rihanna, composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, and saxophone enthusiast Bill Clinton.

In the collection, to be displayed through the summer at True North Square, are works spanning 1987 through 2021, the earliest of which is a portrait depicting Whitney Houston, Grace Jones and Sade. Other works include a self-portrait of Wood, and several of Stones frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, and the late drummer Charlie Watts, who died last August at the age of 80.

Most of the pieces displayed are for sale, including signed originals, “setlist art” and limited edition prints. Entry to the exhibit is free.

Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones will help celebrate their 60th anniversary with an upcoming four-part docuseries that takes turns focusing on the band’s most iconic members, with in-depth portraits of Jagger, Richards, Wood and Watts.

My Life as a Rolling Stone will premiere on Aug. 7 on EPIX.