Hedy Lamarr

Depp’s Hedy Lamarr pictures reflect the sheer interdisciplinarity that lies at the heart of his creativity, and his life. These works are graffiti-style paintings that feature lyrics writ large with a calligraphy that is at once elegant, characterful and yet imbued with a scratchy vigour and anxiety. The pointed lyrics come from a particular source, This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, written by Depp and performed with his friend and bandmate, the late legendary guitarist Jeff Beck.

Hedy Lamarr was a famous, Austrian-born screen actress of the 1930s and 40s. Crucially, she was also an inventor. Her pioneering engineering ideas regarding frequency-hopping technology were patented and offered to the Navy, who essentially suggested she stick to publicising the sale of war bonds instead. Lamarr’s advances underpin mobile phone and WiFi technology to this day. In Depp and Beck’s song, and the Hedy Lamarr paintings, the concept of being pigeon-holed, and judged by one sole aspect of a career, are probed with feeling and sensitivity. In her later years, Lamarr retreated into isolation, a living victim of her career, adding poignancy to Depp’s words: ‘Miss Hedy Lamarr, erased by the world that made you a star.’