Sonic Landscapes
02/12/2010 - 03/06/2010
Featuring works by:
John Howitt
Clay Parker
Dave Cintron
Lance Paladino
Jason Byers
Scott Pickering
David Cintron
For me, creating abstract visual work is very much the same as creating abstract musical work. My musical work starts, in a visceral and spontaneous way, with an initial recorded idea. This continues, through layering and editing, to a finished piece uncharted at the onset of the project. Intuition, through compositional improvisation, plots out its final form.
My visual abstractions grow and shed organically in a very similar intuitive creative process. Decisions become informed by a dialogue that takes place with the developing work. A dialogue that deals with form and formlessness, negative space and imagined structures.
These pieces are about that similar process. In this case, searching and finding in a visual language (vs. a musical language) of line, color and shape that is written as each piece attains its place.
Lance Paladino
This body of work entitled Astro Black, was inspired by repeated listening to the music of Sun Ra and the Arkestra – primarily from The Solar Myth Approach, Volumes 1 and 2. After some weeks, mental images began to emerge – once I began painting them, they were created instantly. Similar in approach to sumi-e brush painting, the working process became a dance with the nature of the materials. I worked both systematically and intuitively: the use of simple materials and small scale allowed for the immediate realization of ideas; over time, Sun Ra’s compositions became an auditory map spontaneously guiding my working process. As one idea was explored, another surfaced, was traversed and realized. Just as natural landscapes constantly evolve and devolve, these works were created within a cycle: pieces constantly created, ideas improved upon, discarded, destroyed, and made anew.
John Howitt
I am a painter first, then a musician. To me, there has always been
a direct parallel between visual art and music.
From color placement to design to composition, what we see, and what we hear, displays this direct correlation.
The condition of Synaestheisa and its mystery is the vehicle to my new paintings. I have studied the works of musical composers such as Alexander Scriabin and Oliver Messian.
Both were born with the condition, and both have very similar visions of color that relates to the circle of fifths and the twelve notes of
the chromatic scale. As such; they both will “see” the note F sharp as violet, or A minor as a yellow green. The condition has
also been reported in cases of temporal lobe epilepsy, taking psychedelic drugs and deep meditation. History goes back to
“color organs” of the 17th century.
I find a connection between my painting and music compositions. With paint, I can make something on key or off key. My mode is improvisation. Through improvisation, I search for harmony. I want my paintings to sing like Joni Mitchell, have the compositions of Charles Mingus, the intellect of John Cage and the spirit of Sun Ra. Yes, I wish myself luck as well.
My new works are the first that I have placed semiotic images such as the frog or cricket to better communicate the union of audio and visual parallels.
Scott Pickering
scrapes and scratches
i worked on these pieces in the evening.
i set up microphones in my studio to capture the ambient noise from outside.
late night.mysterious sounds.blurry.
light and dark, limited colors, textures and shapes push into each other.
Clay Parker
Looking at these recent pictures as I work them, I can see a Pop
Art influence; mostly portraits in garish color a-la-Warhol. On
closer inspection I find no slick silk screened surface but manic
brushstrokes, impulsive color decisions and random stencil use.
Sometimes the surface wash shows through.
I approach the canvas with a clean brush, loaded, hand held
daintily aloft... when I step back, the bristles of the brush are
worn down or missing. I see the paint on the back of my hands and
note I've been painting with my knuckles.
They are romantic. I work myself into "a state" and assault the
surface with wild fluctuations between rape and soft tender love
making. Oftentimes the next morning reveals a surprising, visceral
outcome.
Jason Byers
As lead vocalist / lyricist for the band Disengage from 1994 - 2006, it was "write, record, tour, repeat". During tours, I would record my ideas for art pieces in a journal. I knew one day, I would be able to complete these projects. Whether through music or visual art, staying creative was all that really mattered.
These prints are a selection for the recent War on Drugs Targets, which is one series of many beginning in 2007 that incorporates the imagery of shooting range targets. This current series draws on four of my biggest musical influences (Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Motorhead) and the unique drug culture embodied by the sounds, fans, and musicians.
