Guggi (born Derek Rowen) is an
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
Irish artist, once a member of the
goth/
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...
band
Virgin Prunes
Virgin Prunes were an Irish post-punk band formed in 1977 in Dublin, Ireland. They disbanded in 1986 after the departure of singer Gavin Friday. The other members continued under the name The Prunes until they split up in 1991.
History
The Vir ...
alongside his close friend
Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes.
Early life
Friday was born in Dublin and attend ...
.
Guggi was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
in 1959. He grew up with and remains best friends with
U2's
Bono.
In 1984 he left the Virgin Prunes to pursue his passion for art. Since then he has exhibited his minimalistic paintings and representations of bowls and vessels in various galleries, including the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York, the Osborne Samuel Gallery in London and the Solomon Gallery in Dublin.
Guggi is the older brother of Peter Rowen, a photographer who as a child appeared on many of U2's release covers, and Jonny Rowen, a musician. Another brother, Trevor (Strongman), played bass in the Virgin Prunes.
He lives in Dublin with his wife Sibylle and their four sons along with one son from a previous long-term relationship.
References
External links
*
Virgin Prunes
Irish rock musicians
20th-century Irish painters
21st-century Irish painters
Irish male painters
Bono
Musicians from Dublin (city)
Living people
1959 births
Virgin Prunes members
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