VOLUME UP: ARTISTS RESPONDING TO MUSIC AND SOUND

The Painting Center, 547 West 27th Street, NYC, Curated by Monica King

June 20 - July 15, 2023

For many, art is seen as a wholly visual practice, inexplicably tied to the presentation of ideas in a manner that engages the optical nature of how we experience life—our literal “seeing” of the world. While artistic practice is often physically grounded in vision, much of what is “seen” in art stems from experiences linked to our other profoundly innate senses.

Do we experience texture in a painted or collaged surface with our eyes, or with the realization of how it likely felt to the artist as they worked the surface or what we think (or know) the material would feel like in our own hands? Likewise, when describing the forms of a painting or drawing, criticism often leaves the ocular realm by describing the work as calm or angry; ephemeral or violent; flowing or disjointed; empty or frenetic—all dichotomies that strongly exist in the auditory realm. These critical reactions do not emerge from what an artist has provided the viewer in a visual sense, but rather evoke an entire language that exists within the work—a multilayered arrangement instinctive to the artist, combining sight, sound, touch, and beyond.

Perhaps it is the unavoidable stratification of the senses bombarding an artist in their studio as they work which consciously or subconsciously manifests within the work in this way. How do artists define their relationship to sound or audio in the studio and does this potentially make the interpretation of their works unwittingly require a multitude of senses as well?

Artists included: Beth Adams, Roberta Aylward, Shannon Blanton, Dawn Boyer, Lauren E. Cassidy, Sandra Cavanaugh, Raúl de la Torre, Tommaso Fattovich, Tom Flanagan, Simona Frillici, Mike Giler, Ellen Gordon, Linda Gritta, Monroe Hodder, James Horner, Hannah Jones, Barry Katz, Pamela Keravuori, Jill Kirschen, Tyler Kline, Sam Koren, Carole P. Kurstadt, Nikki Lindt, Susan Kuss, Michela Martello, Ana Martinez Orizondo, Elisabeth Mead, Sharilyn Neidhardt, Victoria Palermo, Erin Parsch, Theresa Passarello, Dean Radinovsky, Ryder Ritz, Christine Romanell, Sara Sandler, Tina Scepanovic, Stefanie Schulte, John Sousa, Robert Straight, Tricia Lynn Townes, Cedric van Eenoo, Mira Vitarello, Susan Walsh, Doug Waterfield, and Douglas Witmer.

Image: Tommaso Fattovich, Galice, 2023