section_path: Visual arts/Sculpture
section_name: Sculpture
paragraph_text: Sculpture
  
  Bob Dylan has also been active as a sculptor, specialising in work with iron. For thirty years, he crafted metal sculptures for family and friends before showcasing his work publicly in November 2013 with Mood Swings, an exhibition of seven wrought iron gates at London’s Halcyon Gallery. In a statement released by the gallery, Dylan said :
  
  I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country, where you could breathe it and smell it every day. Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.
  
  Dylan collects metal objects, including farm tools, antique firearms, gears, chains, and axes, and welds them together to create sculptural pieces. One of his most prominent installations in the United States is Portal, a monumental iron archway permanently displayed at the entrance of the MGM National Harbor resort in Maryland. Created in 2016, this sculpture was welded by Dylan and comprises repurposed metal objects including tools and machine parts, reflecting a fascination with Americana and industrial materials.
  
  In 2022, his first permanent sculpture installation in France, titled Rail Car, was inaugurated at Château Lacoste in Provence. This immersive work, made up of a wrought-iron freight car set on rails, evokes both industrial history and Dylan’s personal history. It is displayed alongside works by leading contemporary artists and architects such as Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Tracy Emin and Tadao Ando and was accompanied for a while by an exhibition of 24 paintings by Dylan, Drawn blank in Provence (his first painting exhibition in France), shedding light on previously unseen aspects of his artistic practice.
  
  Bob Dylan has also been active as a sculptor, specialising in work with iron. For thirty years, he crafted metal sculptures for family and friends before showcasing his work publicly in November 2013 with Mood Swings, an exhibition of seven wrought iron gates at London’s Halcyon Gallery. In a statement released by the gallery, Dylan said :
  
  I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country, where you could breathe it and smell it every day. Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.
  
  Dylan collects metal objects, including farm tools, antique firearms, gears, chains, and axes, and welds them together to create sculptural pieces. One of his most prominent installations in the United States is Portal, a monumental iron archway permanently displayed at the entrance of the MGM National Harbor resort in Maryland. Created in 2016, this sculpture was welded by Dylan and comprises repurposed metal objects including tools and machine parts, reflecting a fascination with Americana and industrial materials.
  
  In 2022, his first permanent sculpture installation in France, titled Rail Car, was inaugurated at Château Lacoste in Provence. This immersive work, made up of a wrought-iron freight car set on rails, evokes both industrial history and Dylan’s personal history. It is displayed alongside works by leading contemporary artists and architects such as Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Tracy Emin and Tadao Ando and was accompanied for a while by an exhibition of 24 paintings by Dylan, Drawn blank in Provence (his first painting exhibition in France), shedding light on previously unseen aspects of his artistic practice.