Newly minted U.S. citizen Joni Mitchell is exercising her First Amendment right to speak up on politics, and she’s doing it through her paintings.
NEWS is a collection of 23 paintings by the singer-songwriter in book form set to be released November 3rd. A description of the collection calls it Mitchell’s “impassioned response to the world as she sees it today.” She tackles the 24-hour news cycle and skewers power, politics and global turbulence with paintings that feature slogans and song lyrics. You can pre-order the book here. A limited number of signed editions are also being sold through Mitchell’s website and her publisher’s website.
On the back cover, Mitchell says, “Recently I retired from music in order to pursue my first love, painting. When Bush was president and the Twin Towers in New York were attacked, I did a series of political paintings. In the current climate, I felt a need to express my concern. It is an artist’s duty to speak up.”
Mitchell further explained, “Picasso created ‘Guernica’ to protest the Spanish Civil War. Charlie Chaplin’s film The Great Dictator ridiculed Hitler. Mel Brooks’ comedy The Producers also took a poke at that mad man with Springtime for Hitler. NEWS is my protest song — a song not for the ears, but for the eyes. I hope that you will not be offended by the truth of it. This is not fake news!”
The Los Angeles Louver gallery in Venice, California will host an exhibition of the paintings on October 29th and 30th, Rolling Stone reported.
While known as a folk singer, Mitchell has long been a painter and released a collection, Morning Glory on the Vine, in 2019.
On October 13th, Mitchell announced that she became a U.S. citizen, “a journey that began 62 years ago,” she said.
See where Mitchell ranked on Consequence’s The 100 Best Vocalists of All Time.