Mention the name Shane MacGowan and hit tunes such as Fairytale of New York and Dirty Old Town probably spring to mind. But The Pogues frontman is also an artist, and his creative skills are on show in a new book out this month called The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold.
“The limited-edition book cracks open the door to a treasure trove of Shane’s sketches, paintings, self-portraits, wild impressionistic compositions and playful character studies,” according to the Dig! website.
MacGowan says: “I like more or less everyone from Fra Angelico and Giotto to the latest, like Caravaggio was the last of the Renaissance, before it went into Expressionism.” MacGowan has fans in high places too. “His visions speak for themselves. Sometimes they will invoke wonder, sometimes they might appear decidedly threatening, but, regardless of medium, his work will always be full of poetry,” says movie star Johnny Depp who apparently collects MacGowan’s art.