John Lennon's Pre-Beatle Drawings On Display and For Sale in Studio City

Before he was a Beatle and political activist, John Lennon was an artist.

Many of his later works relating to love, peace and life with wife Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, are on display and for sale in the exhibition "The Art of John Lennon," opening today and continuing through Sunday at the in Studio City.

The free-admission show features many limited-edition prints of Lennon's trademark pen-and-ink drawings from the 1960s and '70s.

"He had a gift for a quick sketch that created a lot of meaning, and when people come to the exhibition they'll definitely get a sense of Lennon through his artwork," says Paul Jillson, owner of Pacific Edge Gallery in Laguna Beach and co-curator of the traveling exhibition.

The ever-evolving show, now in its 21st year (with the full cooperation of Ono and the Lennon estate), includes more than 120 silkscreen prints, signed lithographs and handwritten song lyrics as well as a portfolio of 15 "Bag One" lithographs, each individually hand-signed.

Lennon began making art as a boy. He drew through his teens and went on to art school.

Read more of journalist Sandra Barrera's story by clicking here.