Johnny Deppis back with new artwork.
On Thursday,Castle Fine Artdebuted 60-year-old Depp’s self-portrait, titled “Five,” which is set to be sold starting today for 13 days only — a number that a press release described as “significant to the artist.”
“I did this at [illustrator] Ralph Steadman’s in his studio around 2021," Depp explained in the video. “This self-portrait — it was created at a time that was … let’s say a bit dark, a bit confusing. I looked at it and I don’t know why, I thought it needed something else. It needed further … information.”
Image Courtesy of Castle Fine Art | Elliot-Nyman
“When I felt the need to write basically the counting down of the years, essentially I just wrote ‘five’ on there because I was just entering the fifth year of … the madness," the actor added.
A press release noted that Depp “immersed himself in creating the work as a means of creative healing” in 2021 and returned to the project earlier this year before deciding to share it publicly.
Johnny Depp’s self portrait ‘Five’.© Johnny Depp, ‘Five’, a deeply personal self-portrait, 2023. Image Courtesy of Castle Fine Art. Photographic reference: Nathaniel Goldberg. Photographic credits: Elliot Nyman
© Johnny Depp, ‘Five’, a deeply personal self-portrait, 2023. Image Courtesy of Castle Fine Art. Photographic reference: Nathaniel Goldberg. Photographic credits: Elliot Nyman
Depp noted in the video that he felt Dior has “stuck to their guns” in working with him in recent years, through a period where helost multiple film rolesandlegal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard. ThePirates of the Caribbeanactor began working with Dior in 2015 andsigned a new deal with the brandworth more than $20 million back in May.
“It’s not the most comfortable thing doing a self-portrait,” Depp admitted in the video. “Although, in a weird way, almost everything you do is a self-portrait in one way or another.”
Never miss a story — sign up forto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter.
Johnny Depp working on his self portrait ‘Five’.Image Courtesy of Castle Fine Art | Elliot-Nyman
Depp detailed his process toward creating the self-portrait in the video, recalling that he “would sit with a mirror and just sketch myself, and I would do that for a while.”
“Different days, different light, different angles,” he added. “I appreciate portraits of people that really are just as lifelike as a photograph. But, unfortunately, we have been living in the times where you may as well just take a photograph, if that’s what you’re looking for. So to be able to drag out whatever the figure that represents to you, that it shouldn’t look, I don’t know, real, in a way. It should be — it should just be some expression.”
Johnny Depp working on his self-portrait ‘Five’.Image Courtesy of Castle Fine Art | Elliot-Nyman
“They do a lot of great work there, so yeah, $200 from every print will go to them,” he added.
Sales for “Five” begin Thursday at 12 p.m. ET exclusively atCastle Fine Art’s website. The prints themselves, which feature Depp’s handwritten signature, are being sold starting at $1,950.
source: people.com
