Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen used his downtime from touring over the past year to create a new art collection which he will be debuting this weekend with special appearances at three Wentworth Galleries in South Florida. He'll appear on Thursday, May 20 at Wentworth Gallery Las Olas; Friday, May 21 at Wentworth Gallery at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and also on Saturday May 22 at the Wentworth Gallery in Boca Raton Town Center Mall. All 3 appearances are open to the public and all artwork on exhibition is available for acquisition. The collection includes originals, limited editions, the painted drum series, mixed media originals, and the Legends Series featuring new portraits of Eddie Van Halen, Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, Neil Peart and others. A portion of each sale will benefit Allen's Project Resiliency which supports veterans from Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Allen was recently interviewed by Robert Cavuoto for Sonic Perspectives to discuss the art collection, and spoke a little about the Neil Peart piece:

... [Neil and I] weren't friends per se. Neil was rehearsing for the last tour that they did at the same rehearsal space that Def Leppard used. Phil [Collen] went down early, and as it turns out, Neil used to go down a couple of weeks earlier to get his rig set up before the rest of the band arrived. Phil was there and saw Neil in the parking lot, and they got chatting. Neil asked Phil if he would like to see the kit. He walks in and sees this massive kit that is 360 all the way around him. Neil turns to Phil and points to that section of the kit, with the Simmons pads and electric drums, and says, "That's dedicated to Rick Allen. Without Rick Allen, electric drums wouldn't have happened." To me, that was a massive, massive compliment! I met him a few times over the years. I knew from the stories I heard like that one; there was a mutual respect. He will be sadly missed. He was an incredible person, inspiration, and teacher! ...

You can check out a photo of the Neil Peart artwork via WentworthGallery.com at this location.