Recommendations of the Editorial team
Dual or multiple talents among artists are not very common. Anyone who achieves world fame in a discipline is usually only taken seriously for that. Things could soon be different for Ed Sheeran. After his grueling Divide tour, the singer began turning to painting. This has long since become more than just a whimsy.
The cover of “Afterglow” showed the whole world what it looks like when Sheeran paints abstract paintings. Now the 34-year-old is in his studio almost every morning in an underground car park in London’s Soho district, wearing a white protective suit and applying colors to large-format canvases with dynamic movements. This is called spontaneous, gestural painting. The result is the series “Cosmic Carpark Paintings”.
The images “combine the radiance of a global musician with the expressiveness of contemporary painting,” it says catalog. And further: “With an effect that does not end at the screen, but continues as a contribution to musical education – whereby the works of the world star become art that not only opens up new perspectives, but also gives perspective.”
Of course, you can immediately recognize Jackson Pollock in the images of the singing artist, but Sheeran also brings his own artistic touch. His paintings are now also available in the Lumas online gallery. “Chaos and order, explosion and silence are in productive tension” in his paintings, says the Lumas catalog. With him, sounds become timbres.
Supported by his friend Damien Hirst, Sheeran presented a selection of his work for the first time this year. These brought in a total of $1.25 million. The money went entirely to the Ed Sheeran Foundation, a charity that gives children and young people across the UK access to inclusive, high-quality music education.
“I loved the idea of art funding art,” Sheeran said. The proceeds from further sales of his paintings (they are available online, when available, upon request) also go to the foundation.