30.6.10

Marilyn Manson's art - Scarier than Music


US shock rocker Marilyn Manson has unveiled his latest series of paintings in Europe.

The 41-year-old singer-songwriter has previewed some of his artwork ahead of the opening of a joint exhibition in Vienna, Austria, and says he finds exhibiting his art scarier than performing on stage.

Manson, real name Brian Hugh Warner, has created a series of watercolours for the show, titled Genealogies of Pain - a collaboration with Oscar-nominated film director David Lynch at Vienna's Kunsthalle gallery. Lynch has contributed a series of short films.

The pair previously teamed up in 1997 for Lynch's film Lost Highway, in which Manson played the role of a porn star.

He admitted he was apprehensive about seeing his work displayed for people to criticise. Speaking at a preview of the exhibition he said: 

“I feel very comfortable when I’m on stage in front of thousands of people. However, it’s quite frightening to come into a room that is full of my pictures and people looking at them.


“Art gives me the freedom I don’t have when I make music. In music you feel a connection to the voice and think about the person behind it. In art that’s secondary.”

The singer has cause to be nervous; at his first ever exhibition,The Golden Age of Grotesque held in Los Angeles in 2002, was likened to the work of a "psychiatric patient given materials to use as therapy" by one art critic.

The Disposable Teens singer – who is engaged to actress Evan Rachel Wood – admitted he is so protective of his art, he won’t show anyone his work until he is completely satisfied with it.

He added to Austria’s Kurier newspaper: “When I finish a picture I don’t show it to anyone if I feel it’s not good enough yet. I’ve learnt to listen to my partners and my friends. For me it’s the biggest success if they like it.”

The 41-year-old rocker’s work is selling for around $AU60,000 – with the singer hoping the hefty price tag stops people from buying the pieces.

He said: “The prices are so high because I’m hoping no one will buy them.”