I’m taking this passage, describing Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony, as my inspiration (along with Black Velvet) for my next series of paintings. I’m going to paint ten to twelve 32" square, expressive abstractions (hopefully) based on the figure from collaged photos, treating them as one work.
I love this description. I’ve replaced the musical terms with painting references:
The narrative … is circular rather than linear: it keeps revisiting the same insoluble conflicts. An effort at establishing … the initially sunnier.. second (painting)… founders on an immovable obstacle… after which there is a palpable shrug of defeat. The third (painting) dramatizes an attempt to build, (stroke by stroke) a solemn theme of funerary character, the first attempt falters… , the second… , the third… , the fourth…The fifth attempt preceeds with vigor but seems to go on too long, sprawling… without coming to a logical conclusion. Finally, with an audible grinding of the teeth, the full (composition displays) the theme in a richly harmonized guise. Then uncertainty steals back in. The finale thins out as it goes along, as if random (colors had been squeezed on onto the palatte)… It’s as if a foreign body were exerting gravitational force on the (artwork), slowing it down.
From "Apparition in the Woods; Rescuing Sibelius from Silence" by Alex Ross, The New Yorker, July 9/16, 2007.
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