Johnny Depp Opens Up About Music, Acting & Art | EXCLUSIVE

The idea, I suppose, is to just take a walk through a bunch of things that have been, wow, they've been lying around for years, you know. I'd paint something and, oh yeah, okay, then go into a, go into the garage or something. Because I really, I never really had any particular plans on, like, showing them. They were just for me, or just to do. And when they came to me with this idea, the notion of having some exhibition of these things, the idea really was to kind of walk people through periods and experiences, that everything represents a particular period, moment, you know, like, just like tattoos, you know. Each portrait has a different approach, you know. Some you want to be as kind of precise as you can make them, and then others you want them to just represent that person. I mean, when it's a portrait of, say, Jack, or my son Jack, or Lily Rose, or my daughter, or Vanessa, or Marlon, or, you know, whoever just happens to come up, like, with Jack and with, you know. Some of those paintings are done in the, like, outside quick, you know. And then some of them you take great care. And then others you just want to, you don't want to take great care. You want to hit them boldly. Lights, the light that exists in the shape, and it's in there, and then kind of build that puzzle. I did this at Ralph Steadman's and his studio in around 2021. My day job was, you know, cinema, making films, acting, whatever. But I had all these other things going on the side that were at least as important to me. That is to say, like, making music. It's been my first love since I was little. But right up next to that, of course, is another, you know, a silent form of expression, which is drawing and putting together these puzzles of lines, and shapes, and things like that. So I basically just decided to not, to no longer limit myself, you know. They weren't done based on expectation. They were just done between, it was between myself and these, and a blank canvas, really, ultimately, is where you start. So I just decided to sort of say, look, I put as much of myself into these things as other things. Here's the weirdest thing for me. I mean, I walk past these things that I've spent so many years with. Some of them, like, that I was so stubborn painting, and like, this stuff by Confetti, I think I painted him probably seven or eight times. Just painted over, and kept going over, and over, and over, and until it got there. So I remember when I look at these things, I remember every little ink pen. I remember the writing these things. I remember all of it. I remember every brush stroke, mark, you know. New York City can be an incredible place, and it's obviously a huge, massive, creative hub. You know, probably on every other block is some great painter, some great artist, some, you know, who's not getting this opportunity, you know, when they should. So I feel very, very lucky that the Pantheon fellas saw the stuff, and really wanted to bring it out, and just put my trust in them, you know. If they believe in the stuff, then I feel very good about that.