Joseph Arthur’s first passion is the visual arts, yet he is better known for his musical talents after being discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-nineties. Arthur’s artwork is a spiritual quest expressed through form, lines, and color, involving a profound search for the ‘thread’ of life, binding even opposing forces of torment and beauty. As with Arthur’s music, evocative of such vivid imagery and emotion, his paintings dance with a similarity animated rhythm of form.
His artwork has received much attention from the artistic and musical community including a Grammy nomination for his album packaging for the 1999 release of Vacancy. As expressed eloquently by Peter Gabriel, "When he was starting fifteen years ago, I was struck by the strength and visceral quality of Jo's paintings. They seem to connect to Expressionism, Art Brut, Basquiat and the Graffiti movement. I remember encouraging him to take the painting seriously and it has been great to watch its evolution. Jo is a really unusual, interesting and talented artist in music and art".
