After Controversial Libel Trial, Johnny Depp Is Selling Self-Portraits

Following the release of his second series of silkscreen prints at Castle Fine Arts earlier this year, the embattled actor Johnny Depp has decided to continue his artistic practice by tackling a new subject: himself, according to the Associated Press.

The mixed-media silkscreen and archival pigment work is based on an image from a photoshoot directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino for Dior’s fragrance Sauvage. According to a promotional video, the work’s title, Five, relates to what Depp calls “the fifth year of madness” that surrounded him following the libel trials between the actor and his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, who claimed in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that Depp physically abused her.

In one trial, in Virginia, Heard lost, with the jury claiming that her references to “sexual violence” and “domestic abuse” amounted to defamation. Another trial was held in England when Depp sued the owner of the Sun after that publication reported that he had abused Heard. Depp lost that trial and was subsequently asked to step back from the “Fantastic Beasts” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series.

Depp began work on the portrait in 2021, during what he described in the promotional video as a “time that was, let’s say, a bit dark, a bit confusing.”

The work continues the comic book style screenprints that Depp sold through Castle both last year and in March 2023. The series “Friends & Heroes” and “Friends & Heroes II” featured celebrities who either inspired Depp or whom he befriended during his almost 40-year acting career, including Heath Ledger, Bob Marley, River Phoenix, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Ian Weatherby-Blythe, managing director of Castle Fine Art, seemed impressed with the work. “I think it’s the most personal piece he’s ever done,” Weatherby-Blythe said in the promotional video. “I think Johnny still has many, many fans out there, but I’m also hoping that art buyers will see it as a one-off work of art.… He’s painted and drawn his entire life, and I think art connoisseurs will see that.”

The work has a price tag of £1,950 (about $2,500), less than a single work from his previous releases. Depp has committed to sign “each and every one,” Weatherby-Blythe says, and donate about 10 percent ($250) of the proceeds from the sale to Mental Health America.