Acrylic on canvas
48 x 36 inches
From the series “Every Day’s a Birthday”
Tag: responsive painting
I’m a Lot Like You Were (2018)
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 30 inches
SOLD in March 2018 to a private collector in Kansas
Tempest (2017)
Acrylic, gesso and oil pastel on canvas
24 x 30 inches
While most of my spontaneous pieces come together very quickly, some of them develop over an extended period of time. This piece started as an abstract oil pastel that didn’t quite work for me, so I started covering it with gesso. More commonly used to prep canvas as a base, I enjoy using gesso as an alternative to art-quality white paint because of its texture and the way it interacts with other media. As I started noticing the texture of the gesso and the lines of the underlying oil pastel, I tapped into and emphasized the natural movement of the piece created by the layered media. The end result is a piece that brought to my mind the ferocious beauty of a storm at sea.
I Was Once a Good Little Boy (2017)
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
28 x 22 inches
An automatic drawing that revealed itself as a self-portrait with hindsight.
Si! (2017)
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 inches
SOLD in April 2017 to a private collector in Kansas
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Si!, a composition for tuba and live electronics composed by Karlheinz Essl; performed at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS on April 25, 2017 by Brett Keating and University of Kansas Prof. Bryan Kip Haaheim (North American Premiere).
This piece was one of seven spontaneously-produced paintings as I listened to Brett perform six separate electro-acoustic music compositions for trombone, euphonium and live electronics.
Here’s a video of Essl performing Si! in Innsbruck, Austria on November 29, 2015:
Wind Shadows (2017)
Gesso on canvas
24 x 30 inches
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Wind Shadows, a composition for trombone and closely tuned oscillators composed by Alvin Lucier; performed at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS on April 25, 2017 by Brett Keating.
This piece was the first of seven spontaneously-produced paintings as I listened to Brett perform six separate electro-acoustic music compositions for trombone, euphonium and live electronics.
Here’s a recording of the same piece performed by James Fulkerson (trombone) and Alvin Lucier (oscillator):
2017 – Wind Shadows
“Wind Shadows” was a multi-media, contemporary classical performance at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, Kansas, on April 25, 2017.
Composer and performer Brett Keating played an original electro/acoustic euphonium piece along with works by Alvin Lucier, Karleinz Essl, Stijn Govaere, Forrest Pierce, and Gianinto Scelsi. As Keating performed, I spontaneously painted in response to the music and produced a painting for each piece. Using the duration of each piece as the only parameter for each painting, some turned out better than others. The two highlights were the following pieces:
Si!
Responsive painting to a performance of Si!,
a composition for tuba and live electronics composed by Karlheinz Essl.
Wind Shadows
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Wind Shadows,
a composition for trombone and closely tuned oscillators composed by Alvin Lucier.
The Way (2016)
House paint on plywood board
24 x 48 inches
I followed the grain and allowed the wood to dictate the composition of this painting as an exercise in wu-wei.
Christian Williams 