Green Day goes from musical theater to art world

October 15, 2009 | 12:43 pm

Having crossed into the musical theater realm this season with "American Idiot" at Berkeley Repertory, Green Day is poised to jump into the world of visual art.

The rock band is organizing a London exhibition of a collection of art inspired by the music on its most recent album, "21st Century Breakdown." The show will feature a group of 21 original works commissioned by the band, according to a report from the BBC News.

The exhibition is scheduled to open Oct. 23 at London's Stolen Space Gallery, where it will run through Nov. 1. It is being curated by Logan Hicks, a stencil artist.

In an interview posted on Green Day's website, Hicks said: "I chose artists who I felt had a similar visual approach to art as Green Day does to its music. ... Although most of the artists represented are well-established in their careers, they embrace the same emotional rawness with their art, which speaks from the heart and swings with the fist."

Among the contributors to the show are Will Barras, an illustrator in the U.K.; pop artist Ron English; Amsterdam-based street artists The London Police; and French stencil artist C215.

The exhibition coincides with the band's tour in Great Britain.

Meanwhile, "American Idiot" continues to run at Berkeley Rep through Nov. 15.

-- David Ng

Photo: Billie Joe Armstrong of the group Green Day performing recently in Barcelona. Photo: David Ramos / Associated Press