Various compositionsLeonard Cohen is best known for his music and poetry, the strength and depth of which have seen him the highest of accolades, but an exhibition at the Richard Goodall Gallery shows he’s something of the artist too. A Private Gaze is the first ever public exhibition of Cohen’s artwork and features over 50 images selected from the songwriter’s extensive private archive that he’s been adding to for over 40 years. His art has always been his private release and while his music and poetry has been aired and played publicly for years, he has kept his paintings and sketches to himself. Indeed it was only when some of his drawings appeared in last year’s poetry/prose collection Book Of Longing did his fans get a glimpse of this side of his creativity. Leonard was in Manchester for the launch of the exhibition and Gina Waggott went along to speak to the great man about his artistic world. In part one of the interview, he talks about his art, his recollections of playing the Apollo (where he got one of the greatest pieces of advice he’s ever been given), how Richard Goodall has been asking him for years to do an exhibition and why he has no ambitions around painting. In part two, he considers other musicians who have also painted, how he doesn’t have anything hanging on the walls at home, how he feels on the outside of his creative activities and why he doesn’t think he’s a good singer.
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