Editing Captain Beefheart (section)

==Career as an artist==
In the mid-1980s, Van Vliet became reclusive and abandoned music, stating he had gotten "too good at the horn"<ref name=ft/> and could make far more money painting.<ref name="trakmarx">Needs, Kris (2005). "[http://www.trakmarx.com/2005_01/05_needs.htm John Peel, his Producer Soulmate and the Mad Captain]". ''trakMARX'' 18. Retrieved February 28, 2006.</ref> His first exhibition had been at [[Bluecoat Chambers|The Bluecoat]], in [[Liverpool]] during the Magic Band's 1972 UK tour. He was interviewed on [[ITV Granada|Granada]] regional television, standing in front of his bold black and white canvases.<ref name="artist formerly known"/> He was further inspired when [[Julian Schnabel]], who admired the artwork on his album covers, asked to buy a drawing from him.<ref name="McKenna"/> His debut exhibition as a serious painter was at the [[Mary Boone Gallery]] in New York in 1985 and was initially regarded as that of "another rock musician dabbling in art for ego's sake",<ref name="Rogers" /> though his primitive, non-conformist work has since received more serious attention,  with some sales approaching $25,000.<ref name="McKenna"/>

[[File:CrossPokedShadowofaCrowNo1.jpg|left|thumb|''Cross Poked Shadow of a Crow No.&nbsp;2'' (1990)]]
In the early 1980s Van Vliet established an association with the [[Galerie Michael Werner]] in [[Cologne]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://magazine.artland.com/the-other-captain-beefheart-the-visual-art-of-psychedelic-musical-pioneer-don-van-vliet/ |title=The Other Captain Beefheart – The Visual Art of Psychedelic Musical Pioneer Don Van Vliet |last=Wolfe |first=Shira |website=artland.com |date=April 9, 2020 |access-date=August 5, 2020}}</ref> [[Eric Drew Feldman]] said that Werner told Van Vliet he needed to stop playing music if he wanted to be respected as a painter, or he would only be considered a "musician who paints".<ref name="artist formerly known" /> In doing so, it was said that he had effectively "succeeded in leaving his past behind".<ref name="McKenna"/> 

Van Vliet has been described as a [[modernism|modernist]], a [[primitivism|primitivist]], an [[abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]], and, "in a sense" an [[outsider art]]ist.<ref name="McKenna" /> Morgan Falconer of ''[[Artforum]]'' concurs, mentioning both a "neo-primitivist aesthetic" and stating that his work is influenced by the [[COBRA (avant-garde movement)|CoBrA]] painters.<ref name="artforum">[http://artforum.com/archive/id=15521 Don Van Vliet], Morgan Falconer, ''[[Artforum]]'', July 7, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2008.</ref> The resemblance to the CoBrA painters is also recognized by art critic Roberto Ohrt,<ref name= "Ohrt" /> while others have compared his paintings to the work of [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Franz Kline]], [[Antonin Artaud]],<ref name="McKenna"/> [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]],<ref name="Ohrt" /> [[Vincent van Gogh]] and [[Mark Rothko]].<ref name="beefheart3">{{cite web |first=Graham |last=Johnston |url=http://www.beefheart.com/caucasian/crossover.htm |title=The Captain Beefheart Radar Station – Crossover of a Different Colour |work=Beefheart.com |date=July 29, 1990 |access-date=February 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001055905/http://www.beefheart.com/caucasian/crossover.htm |archive-date=October 1, 2009 }}</ref>

Dr. John Lane, director of the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], said that, although Van Vliet's work has associations with mainstream abstract expressionist painting, more importantly he was a self-taught artist and his painting "has that same kind of edge the music has".  Curator David Breuer asserts that, in contrast to the busied, bohemian urban lives of the New York abstract expressionists, the rural desert environment Van Vliet was influenced by is distinctly [[Naturalism (arts)|naturalistic]], and that he is a distinguished figure in contemporary art whose work will survive in the canon.<ref name="artist formerly known" /> Van Vliet stated of his own work, "I'm trying to turn myself inside out on the canvas. I'm trying to completely bare what I think at that moment"{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=450}} and "I paint for the simple reason that I have to. I feel a sense of relief after I do."<ref name="beefheart3"/> When asked about his artistic influences he stated that there were none. "I just paint like I paint and that's enough influence."<ref name="Rogers" /> He did however state his admiration of [[Georg Baselitz]],<ref name= McKenna /> [[Piet Mondrian]], and [[Vincent van Gogh]]; after seeing van Gogh's paintings, Van Vliet quoted himself as saying, "The sun disappoints me so."<ref name="Ubu.clc.wvu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://ubu.clc.wvu.edu/film/corbijn.html |title=Film & Video: Anton Corbijn |work= UbuWeb| publisher= West Virginia University |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081230001557/http://ubu.clc.wvu.edu/film/corbijn.html| archive-date= December 30, 2008| access-date=February 11, 2010}}</ref>

Exhibits of his paintings from the late 1990s were held in New York in 2009 and 2010.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.beefheart.com/art/exhibitions/|title=Exhibitions|work=Captain Beefheart Radar Station|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511163605/http://www.beefheart.com/art/exhibitions/|archive-date=May 11, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> He exhibited only few of his paintings because he immediately destroyed any that did not satisfy him.<ref name=ft/> Falconer stated that the exhibitions showed "evidence of a serious, committed artist".