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Rolling Stone fans know Ronnie Wood works wonders with a guitar. Few are aware he’s also great with a paintbrush.

The legendary rocker and bad boy is a renowned visual artist, having painted portraits of famous friends like Jack Nicholson and Slash. A chunk of his work can be seen in the exhibit “Faces, Time and Places,” opening Monday at 498 Broome St. in SoHo.

Wood, 64, has even drawn his fellow Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, who were once among his toughest critics.

“Well, Keith being an artist, and Charlie, they were kind of, ‘Oh, you’ve done it wrong, you’ve overworked it, blah blah blah,’” Wood tells the Daily News. “That was in the old days. But now they’ve kind of owned up to, ‘Wow, you’re pretty good.’”

They’re not the only ones who think so. English art critic Brian Sewell and English artist and collector Damien Hirst are among his fans.

“I have studios in all my houses,” Wood says. “I’m sitting in Holland Park in London in one of my studios now and it’s all decked out with stuff that Damien Hirst got me when I came out of rehab.

“There are brushes, easels, canvases, paints, aprons, first aid kits, eyewash, everything,” he adds. “He managed to supply me with enough stuff for an art college. He said, ‘Come on, you’ve got no excuse now.’ So I’ve been painting up a storm for the last few years.”

The art exhibit, presented by the Symbolic Collection, is timed with Wood’s second induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame April 14 for his other band, the Faces. He was previously honored in 1989 with the Rolling Stones.

“I’ll be more coherent this time because I was drinking last time and it all went in a mush,” Wood admits. “It was a bit of a, ‘What was that? Wow, that was great fun. But I don’t remember much about it.’ "

Wood’s decades-long battle with alcoholism and multiple rehab trips have been well documented. He plans to enjoy the induction ceremony in Cleveland sober.

“I’m going to treasure it more this time,” Wood says. “And with my pals Slash and Flea because Guns N’ Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are being inducted as well. I’m sure we’ll have a good old jam.”

He’ll also be playing with the surviving members of the Faces, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones and Rod Stewart. The band, an offshoot of the Small Faces, was formed in 1969 and active until 1975.

Though they all reunited in 2008 to rehearse for a possible reunion tour, Stewart did not join the rest of the band during the gigs that followed.



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