Space and Time
AN ABSTRACT SERIES
This collection of 12 abstract oil paintings is a series designed to decorate space with pieces that interpret the decoration of time.
These abstracts are a window to my mind. In creating them, I have found a new meaning in expression. Most of you likely know this, but for those of you who don’t, music is a main artery in my life. For the last 15 years live music has been a part of my weekly schedule and at some points even daily. And dang, there have been so many shows where I remember closing my eyes and trying to convert the music I was hearing into a visual. My brother, my partner, and many more of my immediate people are very talented musically. I am not. I have the visual art gene. And since my life has been consumed with music, I have always strived to merge my art with my peoples art. I wanted to speak their secret language. I understood their language of expression, but I could not speak back. When I joined my framily in the recording studio, I would sit in awe and puzzle on how to relate my art to the sounds they were creating - not through known imagery but in a way that would be parallel to the raw art of sound.
And then suddenly, BOOM! I never thought I had an interest in going down the abstract road and for the longest time I did not even get it. I would see abstracts and think.. “where is the talent in that? I guess it’s a mood piece”, and then I would move on. As you all know, I have several mediums that I am already consumed with and abstract painting was never even on the list for me until the day a dear friend asked to commission an abstract painting. I don’t think I answered right away. I hate saying no, especially to a pal! I had him send me some of his favorite abstract works while I did a good bit of research. My goal was to finally get an understanding of abstract art. Eventually I came up with a somewhat structured recipe that I thought might work. This helped but when I sat down to face the 36x48 canvas..the blankness staring back at me, I did not have an end vision for the painting which was something rare for me.
On my second session with the painting something clicked and started flowing in a way I have never painted before. There was a contrast in my mind from the moments I was painting versus the moments I would step away and try to process what I had just created. When I was paintbrush in hand, mixing colors, laying them down and using new and foreign tools, it made sense. I would immediately know that this mark needed to be made here and this color would have to go there. Matching the ebb and flow, creating an even balance and unity while maintaining rhythm within the piece took a lot of thought and planning that came in such a natural way it is difficult to explain. A very ‘in the moment planning’.
During the process of painting the commissioned piece, I began to make smaller paintings. I considered it practice, until one day I sat on the floor surrounded by 10 new abstract paintings that had blossomed at such a rapid pace that I was taken aback. Where did this come from… I was consumed. Painting that first abstract had opened the door to something I had been storing for a long time. It was then it all came together for me - these were the visions I saw within sound! All those years of composing sound through art had finally surfaced. It immediately made sense. I have even had dreams about these abstracts that I never thought much about until now. It may not be the same language as a b flat on a saxophone or an e minor on the piano, but it is my language. This is how I speak music. Art is the way we decorate space and music is the way we decorate time, and this is the way I have bridged them. I have finally found my way of speaking music through art. Something I have been searching for. These paintings bring me SO much joy. I hope they sing for you too.