30 July 2022
Hollywood star Johnny Depp has made a profit of around £3 million within a few hours of selling his first art collection.
Depp sold 780 items in 37 Castle Fine Arts showrooms, including a showroom in London’s Covent Garden, within hours of announcing the sale on Instagram.
In his Friends & Heroes collection, Depp painted the people who inspired him, including Rolling Stone star Keith Richards and Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor.
“I’ve always used art to express my feelings,” Deeb, 59, said of his collection.
“My paintings surround my life, but I keep them to myself and withdraw. No one should withdraw, limit or limit themselves,” he added.
Depp said he used his paintings, which also feature actor Al Pacino and music legend Bob Dylan, “to think about the people who are most important to me, like my family, my friends and the people I love.”
All 780 paintings sold out within hours on Thursday, with a single framed painting priced at £3,950, while a set of four sold for £14,950.
Depp’s Instagram post, “Now in Castle Fine Art”, brought the gallery’s website to a halt, causing it to crash.
“Pop Art with a Sensation”
photo released, PA Medium
In a press release, the gallery described Depp’s work as intersecting “pop art and street art” as “pop art that has a feel.”
The gallery has long been in talks with Depp about organizing an exhibition and selling his work, and expects to host more in the future.
The sale of the paintings comes after Depp’s high-profile case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, ended last month.
A jury found an article Heard wrote in 2018 for the Washington Post about her experience as a domestic violence survivor, defamatory and awarded Depp $15m (£12m) in damages.
Heard won one of three counterclaims, succeeding in her claim that Depp’s journalist agent had slandered her, and the jury awarded her £1.5 million ($2 million) in damages.
photo released, Archyde.com
The lawsuit Depp brought in America followed a defamation case in Britain against The Sun newspaper in November 2020, which Depp lost, over an article he described as a “wife beater”. The judge said that the newspaper had proven what was stated in the article “to a large extent true.”
Earlier this month, Depp sold a series of non-fungible NFTs (NFTs), called Never Fear the Truth, which also depicted his best friends and heroes, raising nearly £660,000. ($800,000) for charity.