“An artist creates, and what comes out, comes out. I have no control over what other people might think. Creation, whether it’s songs or paintings try to tell a story and try to engage the viewer or the listener,” explains John Mellencamp when asked about the relationship between the paintings in his latest exhibition at ACA Galleries in New York City, entitled “Life, Death, Love, Freedom”

John Mellencamp photographed on the opening night of his new exhibition Life, Death, Love, Freedom, at ACA Galleries on April 26, 2018 in New York.

On Wednesday (April 25), John Mellencamp welcomed guests to his second art gallery opening in New York in three years to display a striking new mixed-media style to his paintings -- the counterpoint to his career as one of the most successful rock songwriters of his era.