S_V_H Dance Monkey final

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Dance Monkey ≈L51″xH33″xD6″ The artworks musical notation follows the words: “And when you’re done, I’ll make you do it all again.”

Dance Monkey project took over three week to complete. Creating an advanced draft, and then a finish version of the artworks cover music took three days. The rest of that time, was spend solving a number of issues related to the design and the performance of these mini works, plus updating the stereo system on Cheap Thrills. I also put together a new LEDs lighting system for these mini works and an alternative amplifier option. Time was also used up fixing a number of construction bugs for this series of artworks. My goal for time spent to complete these small artworks is two weeks.

Before photography, talented painters where payed to produce ever growing realistic two-dimensional images of a three-dimensional world. Throughout the history of western art from the thirteen century into the twentieth century that is how they made a living. Then there was a change with the invention of photography and the portable camera that made realistic images easier and cheaper to produce. Painting, then had the opportunity to diversify its purpose. Notable artists like Wassily Kandinsky contributed to the creation of abstract art. But, for me, I would look to Pablo Picasso’s 1907 artwork, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, as the first important painting of the twentieth century. In 2015, I saw this artwork in person at MOMA in New York city. I remember nothing about that moment, but luckily my good friend Tom Haley took the image below. I have read that Les Demoiselles d’Avignon had few admirers, including Picasso’s fellow artists. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon did not sell until 1924. MOMA purchased the artwork for a modest $18,000 sum by selling a Degas painting and donations in 1939.

I feel a connection between Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and my art. I see Les Demoiselles d’Avignon as a major artwork that was not made to be a quick turnaround sale by Picasso. I think Picasso created Les Demoiselles d’Avignon to make a statement and to change the course of art history. He certainly did all that and more. This art from day one was also never about sales. Instead, its end goal still is a more humbled realistic butterfly effect on future art. This quote by Richard Serra represents my sentiment: “Good artists impress the viewing public, while great artists impress their fellow artists.” Right now, my only connection to other artists is our art group. And their art, as I now expect and am perfectly fine with, is focused on impressing the viewing public. That is where the sales are. My take is: where their art stops mine begins.

On the drive over to a wedding with my wife I was playing softly my favorite music on Spotify. It was like listening to Muzak. I felt nothing coming from the music. I think music needs to be felt to be heard. At the wedding dance for 300 people the DJ music got louder as the night came on. Even though, again, I recognize the music all I actually heard was throbbing bass. All the other instruments sounded like a mix of blaring white, pink, and brown noise. I certainly felt the music, but did not hear it.

When this art is on display, the dilemma is the volume of the artworks. No matter who is in charged the artist’s preferred volume set in the Studio will need to be adjusted down for any public display. To help set the volume at public events I dug out my old sound level meter from Radio Shack. I put in a fresh 9 volt battery and this analog device, of course, worked. I use the meter to test and set a base reasonable volume in my Studio. I found that to be around 65 decides with spikes into the seventies. It can be louder but for this artwork those settings are enough that I can hear the music. I can feel the music.

With some experimentation and feedback from my last exhibit I am going with a gallery setting from 50 to a peak of 60 decibels. The sound meter manual states those levels would correspond to the residential to background music setting. Any volume lower than 50 number did not work for me. I am capping spikes at 64 decibels. I take all the measurements about 30 inches back from the artwork. This is only a starting position. I certainly know when hanging these works in either a private or public spaces, there will always be the threat of turn-it-down. In those moments I will do just that while hearing in my head the voice of Meat Loaf saying: “If it is too loud you’re too old.”

Sound Level Meter manual

Using the sound level meter, I have found a strange effect I am unsure of. When I compare at equal volumes, a better quality stereo system to a lesser quality system, the sound from the better system sounds consistently louder. The difference may be the quality of the sound being reproduced. Therefore, here is the mp3 of the music box music from Dance Monkey. Since a listener is not in the Studio, it’s okay to set the volume of Dance Monkey at a level depending on the quality of the stereo system. Find your level for this music needs to be felt to be heard. Although, in the Studio, my music varies in volume, quieter in the daytime, louder into the night. No sound level meter needed.

Dance Monkey final Music Box cover

This is an update on the previous artwork Cheap Thrills. The images below show the upgraded Cheap Thrills stereo system, and a test amplifier I used on Dance Monkey. In my comparison testing, setting the volumes close on both artworks, the differences surprised me. Some of this might be the music, but the sound coming out of the Dance Monkey amplifier system feels to me to be wider, with better separation between instruments. That may be because the test amplifier has both treble and a bass controls.

Cheap Thrills upgraded 20watt stereo system. Amplier is on the upper left.
Cheap Thrills 100watt stereo system. Amplifier is on the right.

Originally, the artwork Cheap Thrills came with a 2 watt stereo system for the cover music that is under one minute. I thought this would save time and money over a 20watt system. I thought the 2watt system was appropriate for these mini styled works. I was wrong. In short, the 2watt stereo, even at its maximum volume of 60 decibels, lacked clarity, separation, sound depth, and detail. The 20watt upgrade resolved all those issues and made Cheap Thrills cover music sound almost as good as my major and much larger works, which have cover music limited to a length of a minute and a half.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon 1907 MOMA 2015 photo taken by my lifelong friend now passed, Tom Haley

Next Music Box project is called Fast Car. Tracy Chapman wrote and released the song Fast Car in 1988, Luke Combs recently covered it, in 2023.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Dance Monkey 2nd image

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Dance Monkey
The backside of Dance showing the replacement 100w amplifier I found to replace my 20w that is back-ordered.

My choice to become a visual artist began after looking back at 500 years of western painting, and finding a different way to represent it. If that had not happened my other options would have been a return to photography (Ansel Adams) that I had pursued for decades, fall back on my passion for poetry (Robert Frost & E. E. Cummings, or writing (Ernest Hemingway) that drove me in my twenties. Instead, I am making this new path by creating distinctive portraits of songs. These mini music boxes are now the latest step forward in this journey. Once, resolving production issues, their smaller size, and therefore shorter production time, will make them less of a risk in time spent and in artist project fatigue. These mini works should also double my yearly production, making more current art available to show in more exhibits and galleries.

Hearing the words left, right, in the video below, when testing a new stereo system install, is a relief knowing that all the soldering and wired connections work. This first test came about because the company where I have bought the 20watt amplifiers, that I have used for years in all my major artworks, where out-of-stock. That lead me to look for a backup replacement amplifier.

First tests of a new optional amplifier. The Adafruit sound board comes with a default sound file used to tests the speakers.

I had a major crossroad back in 1993. That was the year the tourist motel up in Northern Wisconsin that my wife and I managed, sold. We went from “Scott and Barb from the Lake Aire motel” to “scott and barb,” living in a neighborhood. It was in this transition period that I earned a two-year degree and went to work at a paper company as an IT support person. This is where I meet the maintenance crew that I supported.

Eric Clapton and Cream

The maintenance workers lived with the idea that if you wanted something done, the cheapest and the best quality would be if you do it yourself. During my time at the motel I outsourced all the needed improvements. Now working as an IT guy, with its modest income, I reluctantly realized if I wanted home improvements, I would have to do the work myself. That choice started a learning process helped by the advice and guidance of my friendly maintenance crew. What I achieved then now years later has helped me build better art. That was a major crossroads that I luckily chose.

Recently, I stumbled onto another crossroad, which showed up in a note I wrote that I later shared with my therapist. The scribbled message read “…everything would make sense up to this point if this art sold.” That got me to thinking: how do I justify my new large expensive studio, all these many years of time, and incalculable amounts of monies spent, that to this day eighteen years later, there is still no definable market or interest? Of course the answer is I can’t. But the note’s stark question, offers an equally stark answer. Even my therapist thought selling art to whomever wanted to buy was the way to go solve (my words) artist’s frustration exhaustion. I had made the point earlier that my wish was to sell to collectors.

I need sales, became my thinking at a time that I began producing smaller, cheaper, more home owner wall friendly works. The original purpose of these mini works was to help slow down my tight storage issues. But now I see their size, quality, and lower pricing as a as a fresh approach, ignoring all the previous promotional attempts. Another understated advantage for smaller sized works is that they will be visually a better fit with the other members of our artist collective, EmptyWallsArt.

Although I do not have numbers from talking, I feel most of my fellow member artists sell fairly consistently. Still, they joined the collective, looking for more opportunities to sell their art. Overtime I realized that their practical focus was to make art that sells. When I first help create EmtpyWallsArt, my naïve reasoning was it was all about creating original art, that would then catch the eyes of high end galleries, that would then sell the art. But that may not be what they were thinking. Speaking for myself, I see the membership’s current obvious desire is to create more art that sells. That got me thinking. Maybe I should stop (it was not working anyway) trying to convince the group to go crazy creative. Instead, I wondered if I should follow them instead, knowing what I wrote that sales make sense out of all this art thing.

The collective comprises members who need to sell art to make a living. Others appear to want to sell to supplement their income. Until I read my note to the therapist, I felt I did not fit in either group. What helped me to choose were my current projects of smaller, less expensive, and more viewing public orientated artworks. Changing my thinking to that of the supplemental sales group meant I was taking the note seriously. But soon there surfaced the omnipresent reminder of who I and this art were all about. Once again, I found myself at another crossroads. Should my directional choice be Dire Straits or follow the advice of Oliva Rodrigo?

Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
Olivia Rodgrigo – Bad Idea Right?

Oh well “Fu#k it. It’s fine. Stay the course.”

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H The guilt of Art & first image of Dance Monkey

/ Scott Von Holzen
Dance Monkey first image Length currently 44 inches & variable
Dance Monkey’s debut in America

There I was in a recline chair, staring up at your standard office speckled off white tiled ceiling, with a large four blub fluorescent light focused on me, as if I was there for an interrogation. But not so. I was there for my twice a year dental cleaning. My dear in the headlights look found me noticing a round yellowed framed eight inch speaker playing some forgettable country song that was almost discernable. I mentioned to the dental assistant in between, water splashing all about my face, about the music. She was not a county fan. Later, as we waited for the doctor, she asked me what I was doing after this appointment.

I said I was going back to the studio and work on my latest project, Dance Monkey. I then asked her if she had heard of that song. She said no. I then wondered to her if she listened to music at all. She responded only on the radio. I said that was too bad, telling her that music is an important part of my life. That I listen to music throughout my day, no matter what I am doing. She said she listens to music all day at work, so when so goes home there is no interest. I then spoke to her about my regrets hearing that and listed some of the many emotional attachments I have with music, including sadness. She did not understand sad. But I do. Music makes those moments special, and so does the uplifting sound of Dance Monkey. I told her to listen to it and it would make her feel good. I said the song would bring her joy, and boast her spirit, in so many words. She then took her phone and went to website YouTube and play it. When the voice of Tones and I came on (that is the singer’s stage name) she had a sharp eye opening surprise on her face. Just moments later, the doctor came in for his quick check. I mentioned to him he should also listen to Dance Monkey for a cheering up. They both kind of laugh, but looked more confused. He left the room. Soon I was out the door, in the car, back with my music, turned up beyond my wife’s tolerance, and thrilled I was out of that environment and back in the arms of my music’s emotionally comforting embrace. I sense relief and exhilaration that a trip to the dentist had supercharged my ride home. I feel blessed. Blessed by that ride home surrounded my the music I loved, in what could have been just an ordinary musical drive back to work Thursday.

This is the first draft of the cover music for the Project Dance Monkey. From this cover’s sheet music, I chose the notation that will sampled on the artwork.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Final image Cheap Thrills

/ Scott Von Holzen
Cheap Thrills ≈L47.50″xH31.25″xD6.25″

What thrills me first about cheap thrills is the time saved when I only need to cut out circles to represent the artwork’s notation. And even more important thrill is I like what I see on the canvas that hangs the artwork. That eight by twenty-four inch canvas has multiple layers of spaghetti like words that appear to be a word salad of semi-abstraction. I place words on an artwork from the lyrics of Cheap Thrills to help bind the music to the artwork. That is why on the main canvas, my clumsy cursive writing is fairly legible.

For this mini artwork to accommodate my attention rule for mini artworks, the cover music length must be under one-minute. This requires extra shrinking down of a song, while retaining as much catchy melody as possible. The Cheap Thrills cover is 51 seconds. I compose, modify, and adjusted this cover on my desktop computer using a quality Bose speaker system. With it I can hear all the subtle differences in the sound, especially when I turn up the volume. This range of volume of the Bose system helps me to create a decent sound track for each artwork. But apparently, installing the cover music on a small 2-watt stereo system powering 4-inch 2-way speakers wastes much of the effort. I found that the 2-watt system’s lack of volume range weakens all the subtleties of the original cover sound heard on the Bose. Even the effort to maximizing the volume, no clipping, the 2-watt stereo system has no punch compared to the 20watt systems on my large artworks. On these small artworks the cover music plays out to the listener at around 60 decides. That is comparable to light conversation. Although disappointing to listen to as music, these mini works, besides their boutique portable size, play their cover music at a volume level that should not offend any listener’s ears, and be enough for most moderate sized rooms.

Not irrating the listener I found has been an issue with this art. For example, when I was picking up a large artwork after an exhibition, the curator told me that my music echoed loudly in the gallery. Obviously, this is a gallery that prefers its art to be seen but not heard. Then recently my volume issue came up when setting up the large Beatles triptych at another exhibition. That curator asked me to turn down my powerful 20-watt music boxes to conversational levels. She tested it while I adjusted the volume. The Beatles’ music lost much of its bite, its presence, and its purpose. I did not like that, but had little choice. I understood her requirements but disliked the idea of big artwork having little sound. The balance is all wrong. The good news for these mini artworks is that my volume issue should never be an issue with them until it is. Their meek sound is okay if it balances well with the dinky artworks and the stupid standard of a visitor’s conversational levels.

Here is an modified version of my Instagram post of Cheap Thrills. And yes it is silly, but here it is anyway.

Okay, after watching that YouTube video, I think I have had my fill (actually emptiness) of the audio from a 2watt stereo. The music that was playing in order to sound more normal sounding awful, I doubled the volume (increase was 10.37 decidable). I had first tried to increase the output in the software for more volume and a deeper sound, but found I had already reached the system’s limits. That is when I realized I had also reached my limit. I will update the audio on both this artwork and the other mini artwork, A Day in the Life, to the much better sounding, 20 watt system used in all the major artworks. I have another reason for this change.

I limit the cover music length on mini artworks to under one minute. The issue I found was my effort on these mini artworks audio is as time consuming and detailed orientated as the longer cover music I create for major artworks. That is because I care deeply and respectfully the music I am portraying. Therefore, why should I listen to my hard earned cover music sounding weak, tin can like, and totally lacking depth? I cannot justify that compromise any longer. I am done with 2watt audio systems. Once updated, these two mini works will have the option of actually have a range from soft to loud. This allows me to balance the sound and the art in its space. It is a good feeling that I can finally let reality return to the surface. I am eager to ride the next available wave to see if these mini works can truly float by themselves.

Cheap Thrills audio.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Cheap Thrills first images

/ Scott Von Holzen

The artist Sia released this “bouncy party anthem” in 2015. This music continues its popularity to this day. Cheap Thrills is big, with almost 1 billion video views on YouTube, and on Spotify, Cheap Thrills has played over 1.7 billion times. Definitely a catchy pop song. In choosing what music to paint I take popularity into consideration. More important, the connection to the music’s rhythm along with the music’s lyrics plays a greater role in my choice of spending weeks turning music into an artwork. I did not know who or what Sia was until now. I ended up listening, for the first time, to other music by her. The quality of her music, lyrics, and video performances convinced me that Sia is cool.

Sia video on YouTube of Cheap thrills
Cover music & Work Sheet for Cheap Thrills, March 14th
Cheap Thrills March 19th

Cheap Thrills is the second in a series of at less eight dinky artworks. Smaller size works will improve my applications chances for one-person exhibitions. My guess is I will need a minimum of ten examples of this art to show. I hope that eight tiny works along with two larger artworks will fit (it will be tight) in our Jeep Cherokee. Because each of these artworks plays the music they are portraying, and to fill blank wall space, my exhibition request will be to space all the artworks six to eight feet apart. It is important to separate the sound of the music. If the wall space is available, I would like to hang one larger work between two smaller works on each side.

As mentioned, this song is big, and in that thinking the artwork and the music box should have also been big. Instead, it is small, and so will be the music. That is a compromise I made to improve the possibilities of showing this art. “Show,” that one word, is the key to moving this art out of the studio. Look to Show, apply to show, show, show.

Cheap Thrills March 24th

When I looked at the image above, hanging on my studio wall, it reminded me of my initial feeling when I first looked at my first small artwork, A Day. It didn’t impress me. It did not command attention, felt overwhelmed, and looked out-of-place hung on the large white studio wall. Then I tried to attach the two sections of the music, pictured below. That is when I ran into a problem. The music for this artwork is larger than A Day’s music. That caused an issue with the, glued in place, note stems of the two music sections interfering with each other. In order to find a fit, I had to shift the top musical notes to the left and the bottom notes to the right. Magnets hold each section in place. Unexpectantly I ended up placing them far off of the canvas. Extending the music this aggressively gave the artwork a less boxer, wider rectangle look, typical of my larger works. That was something I should have thought of earlier in the works design. Finally, different from A Day, I went with a larger eight inches by twenty-four inch hanging canvas. When painted, this will add to the physical look of this small piece.

Cheap Thrills ≈ L42.75″xH31″xD5.50″

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A Day in the Life final image

/ Scott Von Holzen
A Day in the Life ≈ L32″xH26″xD5.25″

This tiny artwork took two weeks to complete, which is about half the time of the larger works. Future minor projects will go faster if I make these small works a series and use a similar template. The reason for this size is to fit better in smaller exhibition space, allow me to take more artworks to an exhibition, and finally to have a price range about half that of the larger works. I do not know how complicated they will become, but they will, and when they do, allowing two weeks, pricing them lower by fair for me, that amount of time allowed for each project seems reasonable. I do like with this work how easy the decision was to try new ideas. I can see already that innovations will happen faster, along with expense and time savings, for these small works are less risky.

For example, the stereo system for A Day uses a one piece 2Watt system. Compared that to the much larger Zombie, that requires an expensive 20 watt system comprised three separate components and larger speakers. The benefit of that is a much better sound system. Another time and expense saving for small art is in the simplified custom notation, explained in the image below.

Explanation of how the new custom notation works.

Of course this innovation and style change requires a better attitude towards small works. When I first looked at this tiny artwork all alone on a twenty foot by ten foot high wall, it looked lost. To change that look and to help promote these tiny works, the plan is to place a big artwork in between a group of these small works on each side. This type of presentation would actually create for the viewer a back-en-forth movement between the pieces, creating a striking and positive visual between big and small artworks. To make this work, first I need an attitude change from big art that reflects big music to small art that points to the music. And the game of chess was the answer.

I enjoyed video games when they first became popular. I remember the original Nintendo and my favorite console, Sega Genesis. Overtime I realized that playing video games took too much of my free time. I stop playing. It is only recently I returned to gaming by playing chess online. I always play against the chess bots. They allow me to stop and go whenever. More important, playing against the bots reduces the stress of competition while teaching chess strategy, stimulating and challenging my thinking. I would have thought creating art would accomplish a similar goal, but it appears not to with de Konning. All this came to mind when I saw my first photo standing next to this tiny artwork. After exhausting all of my small art remarks I knew it was time to come up to an alternative approach, compare to all my previous failed strategy for creating small art. Then I realize I could compare this art adventure to a game of chass. I saw these tiny artworks symbolically as the pawns in a game of chess as well as in the art market.

Pawns in chess are the weakest chess piece. Unless they are not. The pawn is the only chess piece that can turn itself into another piece, including the game’s most powerful piece, the Queen. I am not going into the details of chess on how the lowly pawn can win the game, but I do see a comparison between the pawn in chess and my mini artworks. I see if played right, these tiny works of art might be the right move forward (pawns only move forward) that I totally underestimated in the past.

Thinking of the art market as a strategy of chess helps puts everything in its place. In comparing a pawn in chess with these small works of art my current plan is to move these little artworks forward one step at a time with the help of a companion Queen or Rook. Each step forward in chess is like a step forward for small works of art, bringing them nearer to the other side of the chessboard, or, in art terms, the upscale market. It may be possible to turn pawn art into the queen of the contemporary art world.

Optional: Commentary about the where, the why, and the reasoning behind this art, my current observations.

For almost two months I experimented with try tele visit therapy suggested by my doctor. Part of my routine was to note my thoughts before and after a session. One note of mine that stood out, that seemed to put my art and my therapy into a firm perspective said this, “Everything would make sense……if this art sold.” I do not remember any reaction or comment from my therapist. But I knew what those words meant and that conerned me. It was soon after that I saw the end of my tele visits was near. The more I thought of those words, it became clearly to me that I needed a honest examination of what was my motivation to continue down this art path, for I was feeling that after 18 years and 755 blog entries, this art’s momentum felt stagnate. I was wondering if I was losing my sight of this art’s message.

Years ago this naive and enthused want-to-be artist found a message to paint and took that first step forward. Over time that first step became a step, another and then it turned to the left, then a step back, then a turn to the right was followed by a step backwards, that then surprisingly became two steps forward, which lead quickly into a spin around two steps back. To now to here eighteen years later. I cannot help the feeling that I am strangely standing near that same first step. Why do I feel that?

As I have mentioned, the marketing of this art or “…getting it out there..” has been challenging, with some enjoyable moments. Most of those came in the early years when this art was two dimensional. I ended selling early a dozen artworks on Etsy with the last sale in 2017. The next sale came in 2021. I welcomed it reluctantly, for it was a favorite of mine, “Walking in Memphis.” That one sale did confirmed in me the importance of this art over the money. Soon after I took the sister artwork of “Memphis,” The Blue Danube, of the market adding it to my personnel collection.

Now, in 2024, I am pushing forward with A Day in the Life, hoping that it will be the first of many mini works to find a market, the large works failed to do. These smaller size works also be a better fit in a residential space. For now, I am letting go of my overly youthful art idea of a museum wall. The reasoning is simple: this art has struggled over eighteen years to define even the smallest existence of a market. Then if there is no market, why do I keep painting music? Why am I creating musical artwork after musical artwork that rarely travels beyond the studio? Unexpectedly, I was reminded again why I paint music.

I was looking for a podcast while doing my (must be short) strength exercise routine. That is when I clicked on the podcast: Make Art not Content. I felt relatable to its title and how I obviously approach art. I scrolled down and found this episode: “What Every Struggling Artist Can Learn From Taylor Swift’s Rise.”  The podcast tells a story of how Taylor saved her career and turned it around to where her stardom is now bigger than ever. The podcast summarized her accomplishment by offering other struggling artists three pieces of advice learned from Taylor’s experience: Find your allies. Make your journey about something bigger than yourself” and finally “Make more art.”  I wondered, could my loyalty to this art be bigger than me, and that is the driving force of this art for the last eighteen years?

Throughout art history there are hundreds of images, of people playing musical instruments, dancing to music, singing music, listening to music, character images of music notation, and lots of abstractions depicting music, but nothing displaying the actual music as the subject. That is where I came in. I saw that and thought I found my unique art niche.  I said then and believe now that this art has always been about the idea of combing art and music into what I define today as one meaning. Sales are also nice, but if this art was about the money, I would have stopped its evolution early on.

In our living room hangs the 2009 artwork Canon in D. I sold more Etsy prints of this one artwork than any other. I see why. It depicts an art style of sheet music that is appealing in its design and subject. I could have continued painting in this way dozens of other great songs. I am convinced if did that I would I would have quickly found my market as the portrait painter of a song. But I did not. I did not because I thought this art was about combing art and music in an ever higher, undefinable artistic levels of expression. That was the original goal. I have always thought that the meaning of this art was simple: keep the momentum going and all will end well. When asked the why you do this (a rare event) I have said I wanted someday to answer the question: “Did he make it?”

Canon in D 2009 L80″x30″

That thinking continues to this day even after eighteen years, because this art has presented me with unlimited opportunities to express and to grow my knowledge of art and music.  I may never think I am at the end of combing art and music together into one meaning? I truly feel there are still unlimited amounts of techniques and styles I have yet to discover to take portraying a song to the even higher levels of artistic creativity. As I think through Taylor’s strategy, I remembered that when I first started this art I surely thought I had the time to find my market and to reach my goals. But that was eighteen years ago. I don’t know if I have eighteen more years to see this art, though. I see my time to build up this art verging on the words; I don’t know. The plan is to keep pushing this art hard forward with no further hesitation to reach a point where others may want to take up the challenge. The quest is a final combing of music into art and art into music that defines both meanings equally.

I do not want to forget Taylor’s third technique for success: Make more art. And the key to that success is to work fast. Maybe my quicker little pawn art has arrived at the right time. If so, for now everything makes sense…...if this art keeps growing.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A day in the Life image 2

/ Scott Von Holzen
A Day in the Life of dinky art.

Here is what is happening. I am running out of climate controlled storage. After 18 years of creating and storing musical artworks, eventually I knew this would be a problem. That is why I am once again trying what I have done multiple times before: make dinky, tiny, and therefore boring small art. The switch to small works, and lower pricing, may with this current style, make getting this art out there finally possible. Actually, I will need multiple pieces out-there. Small dinky also offers this art more traveling numbers which I need for an individual show. Whether this will work this time, I am concerned, but I’m going at it with all the features of the bigger works, and a positive attitude that goes beyond extending storage capabilities.

I should mention the why behind my remark about the “dinky, tiny, boring art.” Every artwork, all 200 plus of them, contains a personal meaning when felt when I created and that feeling remains to this day. You can go to Spotify ArtInMusic The Music for the playlist. My connection to the music I have painted has always been big, and therefore the artworks have been big to match. This bigness towards my musical portraits remains, but for practical reasons, I now need to produce small size art. So small it is, no matter how disappointing. No matter their dinky size, my commitment is to the music.

Looking at art as personal is common amongst the artists that create for the art. It is of lesser importance to those who treat their art mainly as salable produce. Art is a product, so I understand, but I chose the path “…the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” I see this art forever attached to me. Each of these portraits portrays not only a song but also who I once was. Each carefully chosen piece of music shows and displays a visual representation of a time in my life. That is why whenever I hear my artworks there is that moment of connection. A story is being told.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A day in the life first image

/ Scott Von Holzen
A Day in the Life ≈L33″xW21″
A Day in the Life from The Beatles 1967 studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Now that I am committed to doing small music works, once again, I wanted to look back at how I came up with this well-worn plan version whatever. I believe I found the beginning of the idea in an email I sent to the EWA membership, paying tribute to Christy Skuban, a member who had passed away. The part of that email, in bold print, I am sure is key to that decision.
“I believe EWAs should do its own celebration of Christy and her art. …… through the….2025 Winter Art show. We could ask those who own works by Christy to display her work as the centerpiece of the exhibition. Then, alongside her art, I would suggest each member of EWA would also hang one piece of their art in the style of Christy.“

The words “in the style” gave me the opening to experiment, one more time, with going small. That is because Christy’s art was dingy, around two feet in height and smaller in width, with a depth around two inches. One other small motivation showed up in my notes that I put together for one of my short-lived therapist sessions. That note to myself read: Everything would make sense, up to this point, if this art sold. Christy’s art, especially in her hometown area she sold. Even in our EWA shows, her sales stood out. Of course, her art had a reasonable price for this area’s market. Her pricing started from just under two-hundred to three-hundred. My art has never been that cheap. That means to no sales in years. That translates either the problem is the art or the pricing. Okay, one more time. Let’s see if it is the price.

Simplifying my artworks design by abstracting my notation and keeping the width under three feet will save considerable cost and time. Reducing the cover music’s complexity, length, and moving to the cheaper 2Watt stereo system will save time and money. I still won’t price anywhere near Christy, but I am aiming for these mini works to have a retail value of around plus or minus five hundred dollars. That amount is still pricey for this local art market, but within sale possibility. If I can sell them here, along with their easy to travel size, these two ideas may open doors to bigger sales outside the area,

My colors for the project are an easy and diverse list. All I had to do was to look at the album cover.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover

The many attempts over many years to find the sweet spot for an entry level art market for this art reminds me of a quote from a television interview of a creative person: “No one fails, they just stop trying.” That lead to my search for the original, which I think is from Albert Einstein, “You never fail until you stop trying.” Interestingly, that partially sums up a new way of thinking I eked out from one of my 8 tele visit therapy sessions. To append that quote, I have my stand by motivation words: “The closer you are to success, the nearer you are to failure.” If only Vincent Van Gogh would have known.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Final Just Breathe & Our House

/ Scott Von Holzen
Just Breathe L72.25″xW34″xD10.75″
Our House L72.25″xW35.75″xD10.75″

I have little more to add about these two experimental artworks. They were both the original idea of making small art. Now, they are not. I have another idea so read on. There are a couple of style changes that came out of these two works that will probably develop with the art. The first is the exposing of the hanging wire. After so many years of working to hide, or looking for the wire to hang the artwork, these works make that a lot simpler. A big surprise was that I could easily balance these artworks out from the wall and it was equally easy to level both the top canvas and the artwork. The second style change was the placement of my notation on the backside of the artwork frame. That is a good idea. It breaks up that left-to-right flow, gives the artwork depth, and certainly adds interest. In all I am exhausted by the extended timeline it took to produce two works at once. I believe this will not happen again for a while.

Just breathe original cover music
Our House original cover music

And yes, my idea of smaller artworks has again changed after completing these two in one project. The idea of creating smaller artworks over the years keeps coming back with the results always the same: smaller music boxes should be easier to sell. Except that they don’t. I keep proving this over-an-over. As always, the results have been the same, nothing encouraging. But, once again, I have a new purpose to why I need to go small. Actually, even smaller than these two works.

In order to “break on through to the other side,” I need to show, show more, and show often this art. To make that possible, I must solve the question of how do I travel with multiple pieces of this art. Currently, anywhere outside my home area, this would be impossible unless I rented a U-Haul van. My god, the last time I did this it turn out to be a miserable, noisy, and expensive experience. I had to repair damage art upon arrival, and repair damaged art after returning to home. I must not forget we had to stop twice to put air in a tire. I vowed never again. That holds to this day. I rather have my work gather dust in a forgotten storage. Period. But? I am a founding member of a group of artist’s name EmptyWallsArt. As a group we are now adjusting to our new reality with the recent passing of another founder of EW Art, Christy Skuban. One plan that was decided was to spread our reach further out to 300 miles in search of exhibitions and shows.

Currently, our Jeep Grand Cherokee can stack three of my averaged size artworks each six feet or under. That might be enough for some shows, but if I apply for a one person show, certainly I need more numbers of art. The idea for these latest works was to make smaller artworks. Even though I use memory foam in between, the weight increases with each level of art that is stacked laying down. These two works would be the top layer. Their narrower width would allow for adding only one more artwork. The problem I discovered was that any art stacked on the third lay must have a length under six feet. This is not an issue staking works on the first two layers, therefore my newest smaller works would not fit. I could solve my travel issues by buying a $5000 small enclosed aluminum trailer. That would be okay if I was consistently selling art, but I am not. I needed another smaller art idea, and that came together after losing Christy Skuban.

Christ Skuban passed away in early February. She was a founding member of EmptyWallsArt
Big Block Builder H29″xW23″xD2″ is one of Christy‘s works, I believe from 2023.

My thinking today about the idea of going small comes from reading the story of Jo Van Gogh-Bonger. She single-handedly made Vincent Van Gogh known to the public. What she did was to loan out Vincent’s artwork for exhibition that included, not for sale, major works. Other lesser known works that were for sale then surrounded those primary pieces. Vincent’s out of reach artworks made the smaller, lesser artworks more desirable. That is where Christy now comes in. Her small size works have sold at each of the EWA shows. Christy’s art, along with examples like Big Block Builder, has inspired me to build a new look for smaller art. If this new plan works, the results will be that I will only take one large artwork to an exhibition. On top of that first layer I will then stack super small size music boxes, no longer than 36 inches, two feet wide, and a few inches deep.

I am currently cutting my circular notation from wood. What remains is scrap wood that is filled with holes in the shape of circles. My idea is to reverse my notation. The cut holes will now represent my notation. How I will do this is to take a wide rectangular piece of plywood which would represent a musical staff. I will than mark and cut out round holes in a left-to-right order that matches the up and down flow seen on my artworks and in sheet music. Christy’s work, Big Block Builder, embodies a vision of that idea. If I can make this work, I am seeing an opportunity to take this art in an entirely new direction, while solving the travel issues I currently have. Like my larger portraits these smaller works will also include playable custom music, and hopefully LED lighting. This challenge awaits.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Just Breathe image 2

/ Scott Von Holzen
A recent image of Just Breathe

There are three parts to each new artwork project. There is near complete artwork. That is what you see in the image above. Next up is the music system in two parts. I have already mounted the speakers, but now I need to build the stereo system and connect the speakers. Then, once the stereo is ready, I will return to the computer to finish the cover music. This music will need to be refined to sound its best through the artwork’s 5×7 speakers. The last major step, and now my newly added third task, is to mount an LED light strip and connecting it to the stereo system.

Early version of Just Breathe along with Our House waiting its turn.
Here is a nice video of Willie Nelson with his son Lukas Nelson singing Just Breathe.
Christy Skuban one of the founders of EmptyWallsArt past away on February 5th 2024.

I remember the first time I saw Christy. I am thinking early 2017 when my son-in-law told me about a craft art show at an old converted tire factory. With snow and ice and few easy access parking, found a spot to park and soon made it into the large, very high ceiling entrance. Although busy, through the crowd I saw a woman standing behind in table dressed with dark-framed glasses, a violet hat and a coat to match. Behind her I saw hanging several abstract and colorful artworks. Definitely 3D. I remember saying to myself, “Who the hell is that?” But instead of walking over to her, I move on with my son-in-law, for there was a lot to see in several buildings. Much later we Christy and I became artist friend she told me this. Later the spring at the Spring Art show at the Heyde in Chippewa Falls she walked into a room and had her first encounter with three of my artworks. I believe she said something similar to “I wonder who that artist was.” This rest is a nice on and off contact and relationship with Christy. That is until she made possible and credible the foundation of EmptyWallsArt. She was the curator for our current 2024 Chippewa Valley Museum’s (CVM) Winter Art show. EmptyWallsArt will not be the same for a long while to come. But to honor Christy, her Art and her positive dedication to EmptyWalls this is an edited version of what I emailed to the group’s membership:

Our tribute to Christy should first start with a strong commitment by all the members to support and promote the organization she absolutely made possible. The group can then look to seek out one or two women to eventually and hopefully fill her position. The CVM 2025 Winter Art show would give us an excellent opportunity to pay tribute to Christy through EWA. We could ask those who own art by Christy to put their works on display as the centerpiece of the exhibition. Alongside her art I made the suggestion that each member of EWA also hang one piece of their art in the style of Christy. What a respectful way to honor her. Such an event would also be a call out to all those who cared for her and her art to come and be a part of that exhibition’s reception. I added that I felt that Christy, although a very outgoing artist, had her shy side. I could not help but feel such a tribute to her would be her preference.
Christy’s art will have its celebration. When it is this time, I will not pass her by. I will walk to her remembering one more time that long ago moment the girl in glasses and that large violet hat.

Scott Von Holzen