NewYorkTimes
May 1, 1999, Saturday
Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk

McCartney Opens Show Of 73 of His Paintings

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

This is a pretty little town in the hills of North Rhine-Westphalia, but even the most loyal burgers say it's not a place where much happens and it certainly isn't a cultural center.

Until today. Sir Paul McCartney, the ex-Beatle, arrived at the local museum here today to unveil an exhibition of his own paintings.

Looking relaxed and ready for a barrage of put-downs from the world's cultural critics, Sir Paul opened a display of 73 oil paintings that includes abstract portraits of his wife, Linda, a ghostly homage to John Lennon and a whimsical series that treats Queen Elizabeth II like a Warhol pop icon.

Sir Paul, casting around for a new way to express himself, began painting about 16 years ago, but until now he had not shown his work in public. Indeed, he said, he had declined many invitations from would-be exhibitors because they all seemed obsessed by his celebrity and oblivious to the work itself.

Wolfgang Suttner, this town's cultural events manager, persuaded the rock star that he was indeed serious and that Siegen was the perfect venue for a debut. Mr. Suttner made his appeal in a letter that he slipped to one of Sir Paul's technical staff at a concert five years ago in Germany.

''Wolfgang Suttner was the first person to approach me seriously,'' Sir Paul said today at a news conference that drew 300 reporters from across Europe. ''There were many that did in fact approach me and said they were willing to put on an exhibition, but they hadn't seen the paintings. Wolfgang was the first one who came up and said, 'I'd like to look at the pictures and examine them.' ''

''I know a lot of people will just automatically not like it because it's me, but that's O.K.,'' Sir Paul said. ''It's always risky to do something outside your own field. But I think I've always been taking risks. Back when I was part of the Beatles, a lot of what we did was risky.''

Most of the paintings veer toward Abstract Expressionism, although some are cartoonlike caricatures, like one called ''Elvish Me'' in which Sir Paul paints himself as an Elvis look-alike.

Many of the paintings are devoted to Linda McCartney, who died last year of breast cancer. They range from the fairly concrete -- ''Yellow Linda With Piano'' -- to a four-part series of increasingly abstract views of him kissing her. In ''Linda Yellow Cross,'' painted in 1991, he depicts her with what almost seems like schoolboy adoration: a saintlike face above a simple red cross, a heart as if drawn by a child and a castle.

''I think that the style is maybe beginning to emerge,'' Sir Paul said when asked whether he had found his metier. ''That was always the hardest question, what do I want my style to be? I just decided to do anything I wanted at first and see where that leads.''

Sir Paul said he began painting when he turned 40 and was looking for something new to do. Though he had long been drawn to art, he had tended to write himself off. It was Willem de Kooning, he said, who finally motivated him to start.

''Someone said life begins at 40, and I wanted to begin but nothing began,'' Sir Paul said. ''I had this problem, that 'I don't paint,' '' he continued. But de Kooning persuaded him to try. ''He was one of the first people to liberate me,'' Sir Paul said.

Mr. Suttner said he had been working on the exhibition for years. It started when he read that Sir Paul had become an avid painter. Having a serious interest in painting himself and having staged many small art exhibits over the years, he wrote a letter asking the singer for permission to see the paintings and evaluate their potential for a show.

Sir Paul responded and soon allowed Mr. Suttner to view the paintings at his home in Sussex, England.

When he arrived at the McCartney studio, Mr. Suttner said, he was stunned by the breadth of work and its free-spirited nature. That started a long series of discussions and preparations, which eventually led to a decision more than a year ago to go through with the plan.

Sir Paul's collection now totals about 600 paintings, out of which he and Mr. Suttner selected the ones for the show. The exhibit runs until July 25.

Sir Paul made clear that he takes his art seriously. He refused to answer questions about his music or any subject unrelated to the paintings. At the same time, he took pains to avoid suggesting that he was anything more than a dedicated amateur.

''I'm slightly embarrassed by it,'' he remarked at one point. ''It would be so much easier to be a musician. But I do enjoy it, and I don't see anything wrong with it.''