Lynne Wright, Hark Hark, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. 76x61cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photos: Supplied.
“In music, light blue is like a flute, dark blue like a cello, and when still darker, it becomes a wonderful double bass. The deepest and most serene form of blue may be compared to the deep notes of an organ.”
Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky had the gift of synesthesia, where sensory perception crosses from one modality to another, such as experiencing colours as flavours or sounds as shapes.
The concept of sensory crossover provided the inspiration for the Yurara Art Society’s exhibition at the Redland Art Gallery, Images of Sound, visual representations of selected sounds, many from the Redlands. The exhibition includes works from different 2 and 3-dimensional media and there are many different approaches to the theme, with artists drawing on musical themes and objects which make sound, as well as natural and home environments.
Local artist Lynne Wright, who is exhibiting two works, says there are many ways to approach the subject.
“It could be a painting of a master teaching a student to play the lute or a Mondrian depiction of sound in colours and lines,” she says. “I like to use as subjects what’s around me, what impinges on my life.”
Her painting Corellas at Dawn was triggered by the flocks of corellas that swoop around the deck of her elevated Queensland home at dawn.
“I adore them and I wanted to represent how they seem to me at first light. I experimented with collage – triangles moving across the sky – then I started playing with cut-out, stick-on stencils, which gave the work a straight-line uniformity like lines of music. The process took quite a while but it was very satisfying. When you get an idea that flows, the response from other people is gratifying – a lovely affirmation that you got it right.”
Lynne’s other work in the exhibition is Hark Hark, a work that originated as a ceramic piece.
“We had two dogs, a big one and a little one, that liked to visit a nearby sandstone outcrop and bark; we called it Barking Rock. Dogs barking at night is a sound of the Redlands so I reproduced the ceramic concept as a painting.
“The interesting thing about a dog barking is that all you can guess at from the bark is the size of the dog; you’ve no way of knowing its breed or colour, you just have to imagine that.”
Lynne is a regular at the Yurara’s life and portrait sessions and particularly loves the group’s plein air sessions, where the artists quit the studio for open air and the inspiration is afforded by the surroundings.
“I spent decades surrounded by gum trees in New South Wales,” she says; “now I’m trying to come to grips with mangroves!”
The Yurara artists work individually from home so the works in the exhibition will be a surprise for the cohort as well as the visiting public.
Images of Sound opens at the Redland Art Gallery, corner of Middle and Bloomfield Streets, Cleveland at 6pm Friday December 8 (bookings essential, online or through 3829 8899). The exhibition will run from Sunday 10 December 2023 to Sunday 28 January 2024. There will be a floor talk (conducted by Lynne) and morning tea at 10:00am on Sunday December 10.
