Culture: MUSIC AND ART

The revolutionary move away from purely realistic or representational artwork at the turn of last century saw many artists attempt to express the relationship between music and art. Mondrian, Kandinsky and Pollack are all known for their abstract paintings, which were inspired by the affinity between art and music. Mondrian’s Boogie-Woogie series is a reaction to the then-new genre of jazz and it is rumoured that the rhythmical patterns of Jackson Pollack’s splatter paintings were created in time to music that he played in his studio. A different expression along the same lines is the work of Sydney-based artist Phil Williams. In his first Queensland solo exhibition, titled ‘Tactile Sound’, whichs open at the Ryan Renshaw Gallery tonight, Phil uses his paintings to explore the relationship between art and music. In his latest series of work, Phil has created flexible records made of paint by pressing acrylic and synthetic paint into record moulds. He has then manipulated the objects into dynamic, three-dimensional, abstract compositions by cutting into the records and creating painted elements around them.