Basement Party

Painting by Bob Dylan

Acrylic on canvas. 91 x 122 cm.

I first saw this painting by Bob Dylan a few days ago, and my first impression was that there was something unusual about it. I was initially drawn to the painting of the flowers on the wall— the flowers almost seemed more ‘in focus’ than the other parts of the painting. The woman at the front of the painting seemed to be on the ‘edge’ of the painting, almost ‘looking out’ of the painting. Looking more closely at her, I got some kind of shiver, a fleeting sense that I associate with being on a dark path in the night and feeling a presence even though there appears to be no one around.

I don’t quite know why I had that shiver, but It led me to be more interested in the painting — I had a sense that she could glance up at any moment..

There seems to be a warm glow coming from this side of her, as though there is a fire of some kind lighting the scene.

Each person is looking in a different direction.

The lines within parts of this painting, the colours .. It seems the more I look within the painting, the more I see. I have a sense of paintings within paintings when I looking within many of this paintings (not just the ones on the walls).

I noticed the vertical line of the ‘B’ followers the line up the trouser leg here, with Dylan.. merging into the shadow beneath the chest of drawers. The ‘L’ going up the leg of the cabinet. There is space there beneath where the signature could be in plane view.. I find it interesting that this is how he painted his name. Almost like the painting is moving and this just happened to be the ‘frame’ that was painted.. by chance his name merged into the painting.

I am not quite sure what this is behind the woman’s hair.. On first glances, without looking closely, I saw it as part of her hair style..! “Her hair looks similar to the flowers in the painting ‘Radio’..” I noted…

.. Looking more closely, I suppose that it is more likely something on the back wall of the painting? I can see some dark olive green leaves in there. This is another part of the painting that gives me a sense that the painting is moving .. this brief glimpse in time, where that part of the background, similar colours to her hair, just happened to be behind her.

Even his socks are blue — and the one foot/shoe that can been seen within the painting.

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(More to be added to this, I think I have just been pointed in the direction of where this scene is from..)

(Edit).. The painting is from a scene from the film Blast of Silence. 1961. An American neo-noir film written, directed by, and starring Allen Baron.

I have put this together, showing the scene —

I mentioned previously of being drawn to the painting of the flowers… I notice in the film that the flowers aren’t there — It may be a mirror on the wall. This reminded me of the painting ‘Florida Keys’ … where there was an old mirror on the wall, reflecting a lightbulb hung from the ceiling. Bob Dylan painted the reflection as a vase with flowers in it.

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I was considering previously how the thin line of the curve of the woman’s body seen from behind the man could have been the reason that this was the frame that he painted .. and it was interesting to see that angle come into view as the scene played.

I had noticed the fingers of this same woman on the back of the man—there seemed to be fingertips pressing into his back. I can see from the scene that in the film she was actually holding a glass.. which he didn’t paint.

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Blast of Silence (full film)

nm.