People who excel at more than one artform

Anne Magnuson?

e

David Bowie, lol

Oops, that was meant to indicate I put an extra e in her name where there is none.

xp

Well I think he's a decent (if very idiosyncratic) actor, but he doesn't excel at it like he does at music, no.

xpost

He's a Crap Actor

how dare you Tom, Bowie is nearly brilliant at portraying stilted, wooden, slightly pop-star-like characters

Dancing and singing is interesting, because I bet if you have someone who does the two disciplines separately they'd count, whereas if you have someone who does the two together (e.g. most pop artists) they'd be discounted.

Ha, this is a good point! Tempted to say James Brown? but yes, that's not quite what you mean.

Dudley Moore

Michael Jackson - equally good at dancing and singing

He's not that good a dancer

along the dudley moore lines, jeff goldblum plays a mean piano iirc

satyajit ray - world class filmmaker, excellent illustrator/graphic designer:

http://caravanmagazine.in/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_carousel/v-063-black-and-white-illustration-for-a-prof.-shonku-book_0.jpg

Flight of the conchrds, tim minchin, billy connolly all have musical/comedy chop but i mean whats excellent, whats 'surprisingly good for a comedian' etc

Neil innes is shit at everything tho

That is bollocks

how you have the balls to slag off Neil Innes and describe Tim Minchin as being involved in comedy

Or music

Cos ive heard urban spaceman.

Woody allen btw

E.E. Cummings also created paintings (and I think cartoons too, but I might be wrong). I think some of them are pretty great: http://www.eecummingsart.com/

do bluegrass people think that Steve Martin is a notably good banjo player, or just surprisingly good?

ariel pink got into calarts on the strength of his drawings, not sure if has really done anything else w/ visual arts though

Antonin Artaud - poet, actor, painter

Paul Robeson!

(As a singer and actor, I guess 'activist' isn't an artform)

Bill Dixon - painter, musician/composer

in a very similar vein to Steve Martin, Jean Cocteau was pretty hot at a lot of things.

Wait he plays the banjo......and what else?

Wyndham Lewis

David ginola

Haircare?

Acteeeng

must've missed that. can't be worse than Cantona

Ok u pedant, acteeng in service to airecare and biscuits

http://i.imgur.com/vfd5Rix.jpg

^^ A.S. = Arnold Schoenberg ^^

he's not hugely recognised for it but i like john cage's visual art:

http://media.tumblr.com/389776a89c796fbed83e91a506d34f9d/tumblr_inline_mh1dgnakj31qd384p.jpg

but with that kind of thing i wonder how much you can reasonably say they're excelling at more than one artform rather than having an artistic practice that isn't bound by a single artform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikalojus_Konstantinas_%C4%8Ciurlionis

xpost

There was an exhibition of Cage's artwork at the Hunterian in Glasgow a couple of years ago; it was p good, tho the random/zen elements in the pictures made them seem all of a piece with Cage's compositions, rather than as work in an entirely distinct 'artform', if that makes sense.

Dennis Hopper - acting, and later acclaimed for his visual art

alasdair gray

has anyone heard any of ishmael reed's music?

Cant think of anyone who writes and draws as well as Mervyn Peake. His linework is really beautiful in a way I dont see often.

another example - lonnie holley - renowned for visual art and sculpture but is also a touring musician

troll answer: Vincent Gallo

james franco

crispin glover

has anyone heard any of ishmael reed's music?

― wins, Friday, January 31, 2014 11:58 AM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard some snippets of a record he did with Steve Swallow and I can't remember who else. It was a long time ago, but I remember it being mostly recitation, and the occasional sung lines were meh.

Wesley Stace / John Wesley Harding has written a couple of novels. I read one and it was okay.

John Updike drew and cartooned in addition to writing.

A lot of yr old-timey Britisher adventure dudes seem to have been able to draw well (if not artistically). Churchill painted as an enthusiastic amateur. Kipling did some interesting illustrations. Patrick Lee Fermor could draw semi-professionally, and I'm pretty sure T.E. Lawrence did too. Dudes like that seem to have come out of a genteel renaissance-man tradition in which it was normal to write, paint, and play music whilst also climbing mountains and subduing primitive peoples or whatever.

Also Ethan Hawke wrote a novel and I am told Molly Ringwald is on a singing tour; I don't know if either of those efforts excel.

Was idly wondering if I'd actually repped for Schoenberg upthread, not quite but he is mentioned. I think when I first discovered his paintings I was quite excited, but the more I have investigated the more I find him unsatisfactory as a visual artist.

Have Iost my mind here or is it possible that no-one has mentioned Pasolini?

ha wow that is glaring.

wtf tbh

Mind you, two years ago the best I could come up with was Dudley Moore.

yes, i've quite enjoyed dudley moore's sound installations, too.

if chico buarque's novels are any good then him

April March = animator & singer-songwriter

stuart moxham is another animator + singer-songwriter!!

two good ones:

1) vinicius de moraes: poet, musician, playwright, essayist... and diplomat!

2) paul robeson: singer, actor, lecturer, football player, lawyer, etc.

paul robeson was basically superman

1) vinicius de moraes: poet, musician, playwright, essayist... and diplomat!

I think he mostly just wrote lyrics? So it's the same artform as in poetry and playwriting. The one album I know where he actually sings ("Os Afro sambas") wouldn't really convince anyone that he "excelled" as a vocalist.

Wait, Paul Robeson hadn't already been mentioned in this thread? FFS what were we all thinking?

We were covered:)

Ha! Well done, er, me.

I hear Robeson also punched out Hitler and cured polio.

Was Peter Brotzmann mentioned upthread? Obviously best known as a saxophonist, but also a trained artist (studied under Joseph Beuys IIRC) who's designed about 90 percent of his own album covers, posters, etc. He's had exhibits of his work here and there.

scarjo