2020 Chromaphone
Instrumentalizing color to forge a synesthetic experience.
Goodnight Irene: Lead Belly
Sheet Music Translation
12” x 12”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Up, Up and Away: 5th Dimension
Sheet Music Translation
12” x 12”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Banner (4 measures): Jessie Montgomery
Sheet Music Translation
16” x 16”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Your Song: Elton John
Sheet Music Translation
18” x 18”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Fix You: Coldplay
Sheet Music Translation
16” x 16”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
My Baby Just Cares for Me: Nina Simone
Sheet Music Translation
16” x 16”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
After the Gold Rush: Neil Young
Sheet Music Translation
18” x 18”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2019
Peaceful, Easy Feeling: Eagles
Sheet Music Translation
10” x 10”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2019
Transcription Process
Keyboard Transcription (4 octaves)
12” x 12”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Piano Taxonomy (88 Keys)
36” x 36”
Acrylic on canvas
2020
Guitar Fretboard Transcription
12” x 12”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Minor Chord Taxonomy
36” x 36”
Acrylic on canvas
2020
Repeating Fretboard
16” x 16”
Acrylic on cradled panel
2020
Statement
If red is C, then red-orange is C sharp, orange is D, and orange-yellow is D sharp...
For this body of work, the chromatic and musical scales have been fused, and through the resulting system of relationships, I work to translate sheet music and musical structures into color fields. Through this process, color is instrumentalized and the music is played through painting.
This system is not meant to be the interpretive manifestation of a preexisting synesthetic condition. Rather, it aims to forge new synesthetic connections between music and color, enabling deeper understanding of both. I wanted to create a reliable process through which I could intimately explore music, engaging the language of color as synesthetic prosthesis. By primarily selecting well-known songs, I hope to provide a key for viewers to sense and decipher sound in the paintings.
In the sheet music translations, vertical marks represent eighth notes (or sixteenth notes, in some paintings). Rests are grey. Typically, the top three bands in the paintings are vocal, treble, and bass staves. Each color represents the same note throughout the paintings.