Synesthesia: Taste Pairings

As I mentioned in my January post, my art exhibit is opening at the Revelation Gallery, at St. John’s in the Village, on March 3. Fr. Graeme Napier had the brilliant idea of bringing a synesthesia component to the opening reception by inviting musicians to perform 1-minute compositions for each of the 14 works of art. I love this idea! I often see color when I listen to jazz music, and I think it will be wonderful to enhance the experience of the artwork by adding the element of music.

Magical Musicians

Quite magically, musicians appeared and volunteered to perform for free, anchored by my dear friend and beautiful singer-pianist-composer, Hannah Reimann. What had seemed like an unimaginable leap into a new realm of artistic expression happened almost effortlessly, thanks to Hannah’s generous offering of her time and connections. I lined up musicians for each piece, and then made arrangements to rent a projector so I could display a large form of the miniature artwork on the wall behind the piano for people to see while the musicians played.

How Does It Taste?

This got me thinking about the other senses—taste, smell, and touch. I wasn’t sure I’d have enough time to make arrangements for everything by March 3, but it seemed like everything was coming together beautifully, including printing a new piece to include in the exhibit, “Bruce’s Handbag”! (See the January post.)

So I looked at the list of artwork I had prepared for the musicians, and began sensing into the flavors of each piece. I came up with some ideas of what the images evoked, and then began phoning around the neighborhood to source the food and drink. Of course I had to cover the basics as well—wine and cheese, water! After assigning those to the appropriate pieces, there was room to really play. This is the result:

  longing

 

Hannah piano

Banana pudding

  night

Steve piano

Licorice allsorts

  paris

Steve

Cheese!

 mindfuck

Aeon harp & percussion

Red wine

  psyche

Aeon 3 voices

Electric Kool-Aid

  1820

Hannah

Whipped cream

 moonscape

Hannah

Silver star candies

  clarity

Steve

Water

  rain

Steve

Rootbeer

  bliss

Aeon 3 voices + strings

Jelly bellies

  nostalgia

Hannah & Steve duet

Blueberry port

  oddity

Steve

Colored marshmallows

  fade

Hannah

White wine

  l’ouevre

Hannah

Crème brûlée mini cupcakes

I hope you’ll be able to make it to the opening to hear, taste, and see for yourself.

P.S. There will be surprising opportunities for the senses of touch and smell, as well!

Warhol in the Forest

Warhol in the Forest
An homage to Val & Garry’s forest art installation and to Mr. Warhol, with thanks to Marlena for the use of her limited edition Campbell’s Soup collection

This is a treasure map for Val and Garry, to help them find the 28 pieces of gold hidden in the Starshine Forest.

1-beam
Beaming at Andy in the heavens
2-greetings
Stone cairn
3-wildlife cam with camo
Wildlife cam in camo
4-by ford
Hanging out in the creek [Hint: by ford]
5-scenic outlook
Scenic outlook
6-Inukshuk in headlights
Caught in the headlights
7-burnt fence
Burnt rustle fence
On the barbie
9-poo pipe
On the poo pipe!
10-boot geometry
Boot geometry
11-the end of the road
At the end of the road [Hint: go for the gravel]
12-corner post
Corner post
13-Killarney St
The sign is clear
14-3 in the corner
Three in the corner
Cattle chute
16-under the vol-cone-oh
Under the vol-cone-ah
17-wood stove
Cooking dinner
18-triangle rock
Triangle rock in the forest
19-between a cow and a cowboy
Between a cow and a cowboy
20-tripod
Tripod at the center of the universe
21-medicine wheel
Medicine wheel – eat your broccoli, it’s good for you
22-the person by the road
The person by the road
23-sitting by the dock of the bay
Sitting by the dock of the bay

24-rock hill hint-sw corner
Rock hill [Hint: SW corner]
Boulder hill with triangle rock [Hint: S of thinking post]

26-ideas raining down at the thinking post
Ideas raining down at the thinking post
27-at the end of the fence
The end of the [fence] line
28-sitting on a stump
Sitting on a stump

Love for Sale

Nostalgia - Shadow Play art for sale
Nostalgia – the crowd favourite at the exhibit. Psyche was a close second.

When I contemplated taking the step of offering my artwork for sale online, Ella Fitzgerald’s version of Love for Sale came into my mind. Hence this post’s title. However, the two are not so far apart, as creating art is an expression of my heart that has a component of love in it, whatever else might be part of the stew.

Now that I’ve had my first exhibit, the next logical step seems to be to offer my work for sale to a broader audience. So it’s official. If you saw the video and liked the creative inspiration that arose from my photo series Shadow Play, I invite you to send me some money and make one or more of these images your own.

Since the series is about playing with an image and seeing its different moods, most people found it hard to pick just one that they liked the best. So I am going to offer variable pricing based on the number of pieces you select:

  • One shadow play: $99
  • Bliss: $59*
  • Two shadow plays: $149
  • Three shadows playing: $219
  • Five: $359
  • All 14 shadows: $879

You will receive the artwork printed on glossy photo stock, 8.5×11.

To expedite shipping, I will mail the pieces unframed and ready for mounting. I’ve adjusted the prices accordingly. I suggest using a 10×13 frame, but you can do whatever you like with the piece once it’s in your hands!

Contact me if you’d like to put my shadows on your wall.

P.S. The grand-daddy print, 7 ft x 9 ft, ink on canvas, is $1,900.

* Because everyone deserves bliss!

Shadow Play, ink on canvas, 7' x 9'
This grand-daddy version of the image is the original uncropped version. There are details at the left and right sides that I cropped for the miniature series. Jon is not included!

Shadow Play art opening

Shadow Play, ink on canvas, 7' x 9'As many of you know, I had my first art exhibit at the Havana Art Gallery, 1212 Commercial Drive in Vancouver, August 6 to 19, 2015.

The opening was on Sunday night (August 9), and it was a really fun event with family and friends choosing which piece they liked the best. I made a video showing their choices, and something strange happened–they started morphing into the picture!

If you like it, please give it a thumbs up. The video takes the art project to the next step of its expression, from applying the concept to a single image to applying it to dozens of faces. I think it’s pretty cool! (Of course the music helps!) A big shout out to Miguel Wisintainer for the remix of Gary Numan’s “You Are in My Vision.”