After one month of work Africa is finished.  I created this artwork to be the submission to this years Artwest Exhibition. Although, if accepted, this work would be installed in a library,  I did shake-the-tree, by adding sound, although tone down:

This artwork’s look, comes from more than the usual amount of internet research, that included the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, African music, and African fashion.  Like Toto, at the time of the music’s release, I have never been to Africa.  In fact “I’ve never been to Spain,” but I kinda like the popular African instrument, the Marimba, which work well with this artwork’s soundtrack.   Africa’s experimental rectangular format, cut the length of this artwork from over eight feet, to just over four feet, in length.  For this musical theme I think the two connected backgrounds canvases, each 10 x 20 inches, gave this  artwork a solid foundation, plus added a lot of sculptural depth to the entire work.  The dimensions of this Artwork make me wonder what I could call this art style.  I have tried and rejected, painting,  mixed media, outsider art, the Russian art style Constructivism, the Combine art style of Robert Rauschenberg,  Conceptual Art, and finally every current art style that deals with Interaction.  I have nothing. Therefore I default to Mixed Media on the entrance forms, because this Art hangs on a wall, unlike traditional Sculpture, and Other just songs icky.

I used many different colors in this artwork, which lead me to stop and write what colors went where. That became an issue because the theme of this artwork has an unusual story telling look.  Starting from top left to bottom right, this artwork begins with the night and the stars. That leads to a sunny day with rain. Than from the bottom left you have the Serengeti, with rain again,  and finally on the bottom right there is Mount Kilimanjaro.

After a long month of working on this project, I want to now move on.  As I said before, I expect this Artwork to be rejected for submission. That means it will probably sit out-of-the-way, on the left easels, until I finish my next big project.  Than there will no longer be any room for it, and that is when it will be off to Storage. But while it is in the studio, it will be an example for change for the next artwork. The look of Africa does present new opportunities.  What, and how, and where I will take this art, I have no idea, but I believe it is time to take a fresh look at the relationship between music and painting.  That leaves Three Dog Night to help motivate me to keep on keeping on. And if you have forgotten, and you should never forget (no matter your age), “Jeremiah was a bullfrog
Was a good friend of mine:”

 

Scott Von Holzen