The Incredible Art Of Dee Dee Ramone

I use the word "incredible" here in the truest sense.



A dozen years after his death via heroin overdose, a collection of bassist Dee Dee Ramone's stage life is now coming to auction. Included in the lot are stylings of his private life-- paintings he created in what I consider mis-spent spare time. At least while he was practicing his favorite hobby of doing drugs, he helped craft some unbelievably short and simple stick people versions of rock songs. Apparently, that was the same approach he employed while standing before a canvas with paint brush in hand.

No one asked me to be an art critic, and I'm sure many in the art world could speak with eloquence about his brilliant choice of colors and his uncanny sense of composition, but in my opinion he should have finished each painting the way he did his early stage equipment, with dramatic rage and terminal destruction. Much like the renderings of George Bush's feet in his bathtub and Jim Traficant's prison bound artistic insult to the world of equus sport, I believe the appeal here is more about the artist instead of the art, but considering beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you can decide for yourself. Certainly even Bill Gates would appreciate original paintings he can hang in the bathroom. I would uninstall the light fixtures however.

The linked article below is absolutely worth the read:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/15/all-good-cretins-go-to-heaven-dee-dee-ramone-s-twisted-punk-paintings.html




On the outside chance that Dee Dee Ramone did indeed churn out high brow art in his casual time, that's good news for me because I have a grandson who is creating Sotheby's grade masterpieces at age 9: