Bob Dylan was interviewed in Odense, Denmark, by Alan Jackson of the Times of London in regard to an exhibit of his sketches that is opening in London June 14.

(Note: obviously not a current photo)

As an aside, I've tried to interview Dylan every time he has played in Toledo, but no luck. I know his publicist fairly well but she said he rarely grants interviews because "he doesn't need to." That's pretty much the case. But he did this to promote his art, not his music, which is understandable. In the interview, Dylan characteristically avoided talking about the meaning of his work. (I once had some fun "making up" an interview with Dylan by writing questions and then posting answers that were taken from his lyrics. It was quite amusing, if I don't say so myself.)
One thing bound to draw more media attention than usual about this interview: At the end of the talk, Dylan spoke up in favor of Obama and the need for change.
Here is a link to the whole story, and below are some excerpts from the interview conducted in a dark hotel room, curtains drawn in late afternoon:

On both our previous meetings, Dylan voiced his disdain for those completists who wish to see every scrap of paper he has written on or hear every studio out-take that he has rejected. With that in mind, I ask if it was a big deal for him to sign his name on each of the Drawn Blank paintings. “Yes!” he exclaims, laughing. “I finally grew into it, but yes, it was.” And did he perhaps practise his signature in advance? “I did, because it's tricky getting it just right. Finally you think, ‘Oh, to hell...' and just go for it, like you're writing a cheque or something.” He has, he says, no particular favourite among the images. “It's the same as with the early songs...In the Sixties, by the time they came out we were way past the recorded versions and were saying, ‘No, don't release that. We are playing it this way now.' So it is with the art. I find myself thinking, ‘I could have done this or that to make it better'. In the end, though, you've just got to let the work go and hope you'll know to do better next time.”
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When I ask if he finds the art establishment preferable to the one he is more used to, Dylan grins and pulls a face of mock disgust. “The music world's a made-up bunch of hypocritical rubbish. I know from publishing a memoir [2004's Chronicles Volume One] that the book people are a whole lot saner. And the art world? From the small steps I've taken in it, I'd say, yeah, the people are honest, upfront and deliver what they say. Basically, they are who they say they are. They don't pretend. And having been in the music world most of my life [he laughs again], I can tell you it's not that way. Let's just say it's less...dignified.”
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Yes, he allows, he was gratified by the critical and commercial success of Volume One. “Especially given the effort that went into it. Writing any kind of book is a lonely thing. You cut yourself off from friends and family to find that necessarily quiet place in your mind. You have to disassociate and detach yourself from just about everything and everybody. I didn't like that part of it at all.
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“Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval,” he says. “Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up...Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.” He offers a parting handshake. “You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future,” he notes as the door closes between us.
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This sign has nothing to do with Dylan but it cracked me up... nice way to end a blog:

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Toledo, Ohio
June 6, 2008