Artist-stars are on the rise

Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper, and Sylvester Stallone have a common thread other than being entertainment superstars. They are painters, of varying talent, who have grabbed headlines for their artwork in the past year.

Add Mary Lynn Rajskub, an actress best-known for appearing opposite Kiefer Sutherland in TV's '24', to the list of celebrity-artists.

Rajskub studied painting at the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts before turning to performing arts. She is a prolific painter who has steadily earned a following of collectors and several awards.

Her colorful, expressionistic paintings, primarily based on themes of joy, have whimsical, imaginative qualities.

Rajskub is represented by Maximillian Gallery, a Beverly Hills-based firm that has newly launched art licensing for their contracted painters, sculptors, photographers, and illustrators.

As a means to reach a broad audience, the gallery maintains that artists' work can be leveraged into all kinds of affordable products, from home décor to stationery, apparel to textiles.

Maximillian founder and CEO Caradoc Ehrenhalt explains: "Our goal is to connect exceptional celebrity and other emerging artists with collectors and brands looking for fresh and expressive ideas, and ultimately with people around the globe who appreciate contemporary fine art."

Ehrenhalt is the grandson of the noted Los Angeles art dealer Esther Robles (d. 2001). He is also a marketer with experience as the former head of New Revenue Models at the Fortune 500 company Avery Dennison.

Positioning actor-made artwork to appeal to the masses as well as critics and influential collectors may take a bit of marketing savvy.

Celebrity caché certainly helped Sylvester Stallone get his bold abstractions into the influential fair Art Basel Miami Beach. The "Rocky" and "Rambo" star's work, shown at the fair in 2009 by Swiss gallery Gmurzynska, met with mixed reviews, but sold well. Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn bought Stallone's "The Electric Burst of Creativity" for $40,000, according to the Daily Beast.

Folk music legend Bob Dylan has also been in the limelight recently for his solo show at London's Halcyon Gallery.  The "Drawn Blank Series," works which have a colorful, linear style reminscent of Bernard Buffet, is now being sold as limited edition, hand-signed art prints starting at  £1063.83.

Known for his hand in films like "Easy Rider" and "Apocalypse Now," Dennis Hopper, who is ailing from cancer, is getting an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Hopper is a painter and sculptor, but is perhaps best-known for his photography. New MoCA director Jeffrey Deitch exited his profitable gallery business in New York to lead the museum and will make his entrance on the Left Coast with the Hopper show this summer.