The Specials Horace Panter's first art exhibition

Panter's influences include political propaganda and 1950s sci-fi

He is best known for his intricate bass lines but Horace Panter of Coventry band The Specials is proving he also has a talent for art.

Panter, who is known to fans as Sir Horace Gentleman, is currently holding the first full exhibition of his work in London.

Robots, Saints and (Extra)ordinary People will be at The Strand Gallery until 3 December.

For fans closer to home, they will be on show at The White Room Gallery, in Leamington Spa, between 10 December and 27 January 2012.

Panter, who still lives in Coventry, cites his influences as Peter Blake, Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland and Wayne Thiebaud.

Art school

But his interests are wider than that taking in orthodox iconography, political propaganda and 1950s sci-fi.

The works are all done in acrylics

He said: "There are 52 works. Some of them are what they call fine art prints, there are silk screens or silk screen reproductions of some of the prints and there are the originals that are done on plywood.

"They're all painted in acrylics. I haven't got the patience to work in oils because it takes forever.

"Acrylics are really good because they dry really quickly so you can't mess about."

Panter studied for a degree in Fine Art at Coventry's Lanchester Polytechnic.

Solo album

Jerry Dammers, The Specials' songwriter and keyboardist, was in the year below him which was how he ended up joining the band.

He said: "Art's always been sort of there sometimes on the back burner sometimes in the foreground.

"Whenever we'd go to New York the band would go out to nightclubs and I'd go to bed early so I could go to the Museum of Modern Art the next day or Guggenheim or something."

Panter was also an art teacher and head of art at a school in Coventry from 1998 to 2008.

Panter said he thought his art could run in parallel with his music

He added: "That made me focus a lot more on what I was doing."

He said he built up a large enough body of work that he started to wonder what he should do with it next which was when the idea for an exhibition came about.

"I'm a bass player. I have to rely on other musicians to play but this time this is my solo album it's like: 'This is me and all my own work'.

"It's an exciting time."

Panter is still a member of The Specials who reformed in 2008 and still tour but he said he believes his two interests, music and art, will not conflict with each other.

He said: "Art is something I think I can do in parallel with playing music. If it all goes pear-shaped I'm not going to stop painting because it's so enjoyable."