John Fahey: Paintings

John Fahey: Paintings is the first comprehensive publication dedicated to the visual art output of American musician and artist

John Fahey (1939–2001), best known as a pioneering figure in experimental guitar and the American Primitive style. The book gathers a selection of Fahey’s paintings, the majority produced in the 1990s and early 2000s, during a period when he expanded his creative practice beyond music into visual art. The works featured in the volume were often created in informal settings — such as hotel rooms and studios around Salem, Oregon — using diverse materials like found poster board, notebook paper, tempera, acrylic, spray paint, and marker. Fahey’s approach to painting reflects an intuitive engagement with abstract expressionism and action painting, resonating with the conceptual and aesthetic sensibilities present in his musical compositions. Illustrated with approximately 92 plates and accompanied by critical essays from Keith Connolly and Bob Nickas, John Fahey: Paintings contextualizes the artist’s visual output within broader currents of post-war and contemporary art, highlighting the conceptual continuity and expansive creativity of Fahey’s late period practice.