Kim Gordon is one of the ultimate multihyphenates of our era. She's a rock icon, actress and fashion muse, not to mention fashion designer. And she's also gained some serious cred as an artist, having written for Art Forum in the Eighties and exhibited at countless shows. Now fresh off the March release of "Performing/Guzzling" (Rizzoli), a book featuring watercolors inspired by her experiences onstage, Gordon is releasing another art tome, "Kim Gordon: The Noise Paintings," which accompanies a similarly titled month-long exhibit that opens tonight at the John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller and Art Gallery in Manhattan. WWD chatted with Gordon on the series, which features painted words with a drip effect -- "Slow Listener," "Circuit Wound" and "Testical Hazard," among others.

WWD sits down with Gordon to talk about what she's been up to. WWD: What is the origin behind the Noise Paintings?

Kim Gordon: I started doing the series in 2009. The paintings are taken directly as names from Noise bands; they are all of bands or individuals who play music. I liked the idea of taking something that will never become popular and is very pure and free in its expression [and] using it as content for art. I liked the idea of people buying something for an experience they never had, much like the way people buy T-shirts for places they've never been to.

WWD: Which was the first painting?

K.G.: "Pussy Galore" was the first. I just liked them as a band. And I liked that they took their name from something in pop culture, so I liked the idea of putting it back out in another context. WWD: As for the other paintings...

K.G.: "Talk Normal" are these two girls who play amazing music, more No Wave than Noise music. "Slow Listener" is such a great name.

WWD: How do the Noise Paintings relate to your other work?

K.G.: Early work of mine had to do with writing. Short proposals for stories, sort of inspired by conceptual art and the minimalist writer [Alain] Robbe-Grillet.

WWD: What are you currently obsessed with?

K.G.: I'm into doing paintings of lyrics, other people's...random lines. Each word is on a separate piece of paper or canvas.

WWD: Your guilty pleasure right now?

K.G.: Listening to Kurt Vile's latest CD, "Childish Prodigy." Guilty because I listen to it too much...

WWD: And the requisite fashion question: What's going to be your go-to look for the summer?

K.G.: Probably some Electric Feather dress. I wore one all last summer. [The clothes] are so simple but unusual.