Current Affairs at the Bar
Art and music for me combine magically. Over the years, my experience in meditation has also brought my mind closer to breathing music so that it can flow through me in my art. Now music is integral to my painting process. The art produced is the output at the end of each audio journey. The art is not the music or the journey; it is the visual experience resulting from the mixture of the two.
Enlightened Gesticulation
I work on canvas, the larger the better, and choose music appropriate to the mood of the art to be produced, to the state of mind required and to my perception of the piece to be painted. I use the music to develop my characters of light, dark, shape, form and texture to unfold just like in a movie. And for me the director of each work, the music is the soundtrack. Just as on screen, the music helps to hook the viewer into the feelings and emotions of the movie, the soundtrack I work to, locks me into the full artistic depths within to let them emerge on the canvas. The process is not trance like just in case you wondered, if anything, it is with the single pointed concentration as used in meditation and with total clarity of thought, undistracted.
Irasshai
The music flows, my art flows; the paint, the palette knives, the brushes all dance and glide with the audio journey. I tend to try and use music which is mixed, DJ’d, or collections of music that are engineered in an order that has some purpose, a journey, rather than disjoined random tunes. This means that I can get into a seamless flow of energy. The result in my paintings is an encapsulated artistic passion and compassion; an outward creative reflection.
Rack
I am happy to email JPEGS of my work to interested parties, as these show the greater detail and texture. More examples of my work can be seen in my online gallery at www.ifitrains.com. Any comments or questions are very welcome.
Mark,
How long does it take to make a typical painting? Do you listen to the same soundtrack all the way through? Do you usually go with the first music you try, or do you have to discover by trial the music that works for the picture you want to make?
Just read this from a Telegraph article:
If Kandinsky had a favourite colour, it must have been blue: “The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural… The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white.”
Mark,
using Mozilla, the link to your web site did not work. I had to type in the url.
Having arrived at your website and going into ‘paintings’, there were no slide show buttons.
Switching to Safari, I did see the slide show buttons.
I will browse later.
Steve
It typically takes two to three weeks to complete a painting. The development of an idea, the choice of music and preparation for the subject matter can take one week at best! Sometimes it can take weeks! I always listen to the soundtrack all the way through to fully absorb the full audio journey. This means that I can become “as one” with the music; a bit like the concentration in meditation, where the mind merges with the object of meditation, like water with water. I use the same music soundtrack/mix throughout each session with the painting.
The music is choosen prior to the painting, so it’s a conscious decision to evoke the mood for a painting. I listen to lots of music and over the years I guess I’ve stored up a mental library of music, that I can tap into when it comes to choosing for a painting.
The mention of the Telegraph article is very interesting! My art is anothert form of my meditation, and the internal awakening is reflected outwardly as I paint. And strangely I do feel the colour as I work. I can’t comment on what stage I am at in my awakening, but I’m sure it’ll be a life long learning!
Birgit
Thanks very much for the feedback, I’ll look into it to see if anything can be done to improved the accessibility. Please do comment back after you’ve had a browse.
Sorry about the link, Birgit, it should be fixed now. WordPress keeps inserting things if I’m not careful to put in a full URL starting with http.
I see I forgot to mention it, but Kandinsky was possibly a synaesthete (hears sights, sees sound) and certainly tried to capture music in his painting. When I read the quoted passage, I connected it with Mark’s strong use of blue that often merges to white.
Whilst Kandinsky may have been a synaesthe, I’m not aware that I am by any means. I do however “see” music, and the more I “see” the more I paint.
I listen to new music and I involuntarily visualise painting, moving to the music with a palette knife or brush, seeing forms and colours take shape. The dark and light aspects in music grip me intensely and I focus on these too.
Mark,
I see from your site that you are an emerging artist.
I like the bike painting. It reminds me of my old home in Amsterdam.
Karl
Yes I’m now full-time as an artist. As a result I’m starting to schedule exhibitions for this year and also take commissions.
The painting “Rack” is from a bike rack in Amsterdam, I’m glad it reminds you of your old home there – Amsterdam really is a beautiful and inspirational place. The title Rack also emphasises the stretched nature of the persective, similar to the rack used historically as a means of human torture. This is also why there is a ghostly aspect to the work too.
As you know, the bikecycle racks are stretched out across many parts of Amsterdam, and this is another aspect of this piece “Rack”; the racks are stretched out across Amsterdam.
Thought I should also mention that “Current Affairs at the Bar” is a depiction of a scene at a bar (or brown Cafe) in Amsterdam.
“Current Affairs at the Bar” is a depiction of a scene at a bar (or brown Cafe) in Amsterdam
Mark,
I suspected that, but the color made me uncertain ;-)
This work seems to be at a sweet level of abstraction where I can revel in the color and gesture, but there is still a hint of representation that lends it depth and meaning. Actually, until I put the titles in this morning, I hadn’t seen the bar with people in the first painting, or what I’m seeing as dancing shapes in the second. Irasshai seems even more abstract, but I think of a Japanese food stall at night, with lights inside and the entrance curtain flapping open. These are good examples of titles being important in the overall experience. I keep going back to find more in the pictures.
Karl – yes the colour is intentional to denote the “blue” nature of Amsterdam and the cold nature of current affairs that can occur on a personal level and on a news/media level.
Steve – the second painting “Enlightened Gesticulation” is a representation of the mudras (or hand gestures) displayed by a buddha statue or painting – literally an enlightened gesticulation, where by the deeper meaning of the work is conveyed without speaking on a very subtle level.
I do hope, that as Steve has found, more can be seen in the pictures on deeper analysis.
I enjoy your work and I will browse more often through your painting and photo gallery.
We are fortunate to have a juxtaposition in today’s and yesterday’s posts of artists working from a meditation- or drug-induced state.
Thank you, more new work will appear in the gallery during the coming weeks.
The posting yesterday and today demonstrate the complex and necessary engagement of the mind in art. It raises the question of how can we truely perceive what someone else perceives when looking at a painting, or indeed how can we perceive what was in the artists mind at the time of painting?.
Perhaps it is possible to gain some idea of others’ perception or intention when studying their work, but the fine detailed perception of each individual will be totally unique and thus gives an unquantifiable view of every artwork – a concept which blows my mind!
Steve,
I agree that there is more to see with the images the longer one looks. For my part, I instantly saw the representational nature of the café scene. Looking at it further, I appreciate it more and more at an abstract level. I like work that “changes” with time. It is something of the reverse of the Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian Grey. The picture remains the same, but the viewer changes (although not necessarily in a bad way…)
Mark,
These paintings are beautiful and the description that you use to create these paintings border closely on experiences undergone by musical savants… Of course, your advantage stems from the fact that you seem to be able to transfer some of those musical feelings in colors. My favourite was ‘Rack’. I seemed to get lost in the abstractions. Good luck at the gallery and hoping to see more!
Although a bit off-topic whimsical note, the following link (http://lac.zkm.de/2005/papers/juergen_reuter.pdf) talks about an individuals research into mapping colors to sounds using a computer tool – a reversal of what you do.. Wonder what happens if we sample your paintings through this tool? Would the music you heard when you painted the work be recreated?
Sunil
Thanks for the feedback and kind words.
The idea of reversing what I do is quite funny and also scary – what if totally different music came back through such a mapping? What if new music were born from it? Seriously though, my art is not intended as a replica representation of the music I use. Instead I feel images, shape, texture, colour, light and dark as a result of my focus on the music throughout the painting process.
Whilst I have a chosen subject matter for each work, the music then plays its part to determine the style and emotion as I paint. Maybe the music I listen to, the painting process itself and the produced artwork could be likened to a pair of shoes, the process of walking unique to the walker, and the resultant footprint left behind. Ahhh, if someone gets hold of my shoes does that mean my work could copied, oh no! Hopefully I have my very own walk!
It’s sometimes hard to put into words what actually happens during the painting process.
Have you ever tried painting the same subject to two different soundtracks? Would it be hard to get yourself to do that? Even as a photographer with much faster and easier methods of creation, I’m not very good at seriously trying two different approaches; usually one just seems to feel right. But I could see a great series of bike racks, like Monet’s haystacks…
Not yet Steve, I may try it soon. The same subject with a different soundtrack will be a different journey during the creative process. My Rack could stretch out for some time!
Mark,
For me an impressive picture is one that I respond to immediately, but that does not necessarily make it a good picture. I think a good picture is one that I find myself liking more and more from day to day. That’s how I feel about the blue/brown café.
Karl
Thank you for taking the time to come back to the picture.
So would you say that the longevity of liking a picture is greater when it is good, rather than when it is impressive? Out of curiosity, What is about “Current Affairs at the Bar” that makes you like it more from day to day?
What are your thoughts on the other 3 pictures in the post?
Mark,
The café impresses me because each time I look at it I feel like I am seeing a new picture in a series. It is always different — the people seemed to have moved, the level of abstraction varies each time. It is somehow a living picture. The bicycle picture I also like very much. It is somewhat more literal in the foreground, while the background areas dissolve into the ghosts of movement and action in the city.
The other two pictures I do not yet understand so I don’t feel ready to make a comment about them. But I will continue looking.
Karl
I’m glad you’re still enjoying the café – did you try the coffee?
Your comments raise the point that when you go to a café, get to know the place more with time and with additional visits you notice the activity, the people and the finer details of the surroundings more – a bit like when you move into a new house!
I’m pleased you see the ghosts and movement in Rack too, these are a key part of this work.
Anyway, onto the other two. I find when I’m on a journey that the odd signpost can help. So, I thought I might mention some pointers. Enlightened Gesticulation is based around the hand gestures (or mudras) of a buddha. Irasshai is Japanese for “welcome, come this way”; in my painting there are two central characters. I hope this is helpful.
Karl
Sorry, I put your name as the poster of the previous comment – are you able to change it please?
No problem Mark. I was a bit confused. Sometimes I do talk to myself in my comments, but usually I remember doing so ;-)
Talk to yourself sometimes in comments? – I’m always talking to myself, or in this case thinking I’m someone else! ;-) Maybe it’s the wish to be in Amsterdam or New York somedays.
Anyway, how did you get on with the other two paintings Karl?
And if anyone else would like to share any further thoughts please that would be good. Big thanks from a cold and wet day in Scotland…most certainly if it rains today!