"I knew nothing about art until I went to France," Wyman tells me.
"But I met all these bloody great artists who are like gods – Chagall,
César, Arman – and, although I was in awe of them they treated me as an
equal. They thought I was an artist of music."
Wyman, who tells me
he has a store of 20,000 photographs, is known as the Stones'
"librarian" for his obsessive diary-keeping – of which the photography
is an extension. He has been taking pictures since the age of 11, when
his uncle gave him a Box Brownie camera. But it was his friendship with
Chagall that really ignited Wyman's interest in fine art.
"I
really do look at things. The average person walks along looking at the
ground," he says. "But I don't do anything special, I just take the
bloody picture."
After first being championed by his friend the
photographer Terry O'Neill, Wyman has had over a dozen photography
exhibitions. He is in London at the Rook & Raven Gallery to promote
the latest, a "rather special" one for him, which includes "re-workings"
of his snaps (from landscapes to moody shots of Mick Jagger and Jerry
Hall) by contemporary artists including Pam Glew and Wyman's friend
Gerald Scarfe, the illustrator behind Pink Floyd's The Wall visuals.
During
his time living in France Wyman was over at Chagall's house "all the
time" and on one on occasion noticed a beautiful Picasso vase. "But
that's a Picasso! How did you get this?" he cried. "I gave him one of
mine, and Picasso gave me one of his. We swap," said Chagall. Wyman
responded with: "But that's what I do with Eric Clapton! We swap new
albums. I never thought real artists did things like that."
He was
born William George Perks in 1936 later changing his name to Wyman by
deed poll in tribute to a friend with whom he had served in the Royal
Air Force. A bit older than the other Stones, he stepped in as their
bassist in 1962 after Dick Taylor left, and was reportedly asked to join
simply because he had his own amplifier. Wyman was the first of the
Stones to break out on his own in 1993 after a 30-year stint in the
band.
Since then he has had success with The Rhythm Kings, run his
Sticky Fingers restaurants, become an accomplished archaeologist (even
patenting his own brand of metal detector), written books… "My life is
full," he says. "I work from morning to night just taking time out to go
to the toilet, make a cup of tea and have my dinner."
At 76 his
shaggy hair is fully grey and his bold eyebrows and angular face
softened. Sitting in the gallery's chilly basement he moves closer to
the small radiator and often cups his hands around a mug of tea for
warmth. He is fresh from performing live with the Stones for the first
time in 22 years at the band's 50th-birthday celebrations in December,
an experience he describes as "short and sweet, I suppose you could
say", having consisted of just two songs.
Talking of his
"fantastic girls", three teenagers aged 18, 17 and 14, with his third
wife Suzanne Accosta, his voice fills with pride. "[The 02 gig] was the
first time they'd seen me play with the Stones, you know. They'd been to
Stones shows before but never seen me on stage with them, so that was
kind of nice. I did get some quite rousing applause when I went on."
Sadly
Wyman is cut short by a rather overpowering PR who repeatedly vetoes
any questions unrelated to the exhibition – which is tricky as the
paintings are yet to be delivered.
Under the circumstances I
refrain from asking Wyman about the Jimmy Savile scandal, but I'd have
been keen to hear his view as a man who became notorious for his
relationship with a minor.
His relationship with Mandy Smith began
secretly when she was 13 and became sexual when she was 14, according
to Smith. In an interview with The Observer in 2006 Wyman said: "I don't
know [how it happened]. It's the magic of the moment, basically. It was
1984 when I met her. We got married in 1989. That was a disaster." They
divorced in 1991 and Smith subsequently told the Daily Mail: "People
aren't as protective of celebrities nowadays and if this had happened
recently I think Bill would have ended up in prison."
It is hard
to reconcile this, or indeed the Wyman reputed to have bedded a thousand
women, with the likeable, domestically minded person in front of me. Is
he happy? "I've never been happier," he says. "I'm a father and not a
grandfather. At my age my three gorgeous daughters should be my
grandchildren, shouldn't they? But they're my children. And I'm very
fortunate since I can spend more time with them than I could have if I
was younger because I would have been touring."
Bill Wyman-Reworked, Rook & Raven, London W1 (020 7323 0805) 21 February to 31 March
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/bill-wyman-si-si-im-a-rock-star--but-im-a-photographer-too-8471753.html
