A Playful Misunderstanding
Turning Moments into Light is another article about my relationship with music. It began with a misunderstanding, and I would like to keep something of that playful spirit.
Years ago, while trying to describe the essence of my recent work, I arrived at the phrase “turning moments into light”. I have returned to this idea often; Light as State of Being comes particularly close to what I mean.
Then, listening to Spinning Away by Brian Eno and John Cale, from an album I particularly enjoy, I thought I heard my own phrase coming back to me. My first reaction was: “Hey, Brian Eno, what are you doing fishing in my pond?” [1]
Of course, he was singing “turning moments into line”. The mishearing stayed with me. So this article plays with both ideas, pairing my paintings with passages from Eno’s songs. A game very much to my taste.
Music as an Inspiration for My Paintings
Music plays an important part in my life, especially when I paint, even if my understanding of it is not primarily technical. Occasionally I engage closely with a particular piece, from Palestrina or Webern to SoundEagle, attending to its concept, composition or timbre. More often I choose music to accompany the work. The range is broad, with classical music and jazz usually at its centre.
And Then There Is Brian Eno
For me, Eno is an extraordinary artist. My interest goes beyond a particular album or phase of his work. I hear music shaping space and movement, sometimes almost light: concerns that are close to my own. In his ambient work, especially, sounds establish a world without defining every part of it. There is room to enter, to linger, to follow a detail.
That openness matters to my painting too. The relationships between marks, colour and empty space give the eye direction while leaving it free to wander. Something like that, anyway.
The paintings below are associations with the songs. They were not made in response to these particular lyrics.
At the heart of our game are excerpts from Brian Eno’s song lyrics, paired with images of mine that attempt to capture these passages visually. Let the game begin!
Turning Moments into Light and Lines
Spinning Away — I
Up on a hill
As the day dissolves
With my pencil turning moments into line [1]
Spinning Away — II
I have no idea exactly what I’ve drawn
Some kind of change
Some kind of spinning away
With every single line
Moving further out in time [1]
Spinning Away — III
And now
As the pale moon rides
(In the stars, in the stars)
…..
I draw, but the lines move round
(In the stars, in the stars) [1]
Faraway Beach
Unlikely
I’ll be remembered
As the tide brushes sand in my eyes
I’ll drift away [2]
Golden Hours
At My Degree of Uncertainty
How Can Moments Go So Slow.
Several Times
I’ve Seen the Evening Slide Away
Watching the Signs
Taking Over From the Fading Day
Perhaps My Brains Are Old and Scrambled. [3]
And Then So Clear
And then so clear to wonder
To wake with open eyes
As the snow across the tundra
And the rain across the skies [4]
Saint Elmo’s Fire
And we saw St Elmo’s fire
Splitting ions in the ether.
In the blue August Moon
In the cool August Moon [5]
Julie With…
I am on an open sea
Just drifting as the hours go slowly by
Julie with her open blouse
Is gazing up into the empty sky
Now it seems to be
So strange
Here
Now
It’s so blue [6]
A misheard word brought these paintings and songs together. Listening again has left the word in place, with a little more room around it.
The song that started this game: listen to Spinning Away.
Footnotes
[1] Brian Eno and John Cale, Spinning Away, Wrong Way Up (1990). Recording and credits · Lyrics. Four of the pairings draw on different passages of this song.
[2] Brian Eno, On Some Faraway Beach, Here Come the Warm Jets (1974). Recording · Lyrics.
[3] Brian Eno, Golden Hours, Another Green World (1975). Recording · Lyrics.
[4] Brian Eno, And Then So Clear, Another Day on Earth (2005). Song details and lyrics.
[5] Brian Eno, St. Elmo’s Fire, Another Green World (1975). Album and recording · Lyrics.
[6] Brian Eno, Julie With…, Before and After Science (1977). Recording · Lyrics.
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Can We Hear a Painting? · Light as State of Being · Visual Response to “The Last Rag”
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