This is the first image for an exhibition with an environmental theme.   My submission is the music of Marvin Gaye,  Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)  This song would not have been my first choice of  Marvin Gaye music if it was not for the opportunity to show.*  At first, I felt no way could I qualify after reading the Pablo’s exhibition details.  Part of it read “….. this exhibit will feature works of art that examine how we interact with and effect the surrounding environment. We invite designers, artists, and creatives of all kinds who work with environmental topics or interests in the Life Sciences to apply…..”  I do not comprehend what the Pablo Center expects for entries.  Their statement was so general, that music with environmental concerns may well quality.  The song Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) was my obvious first choice.  While developing this project my research brought up another song choice, Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.   Too deep into Mercy to change I dropped Taxi idea.  It will be a great choice for the next environment exhibition.

The song Mercy Mercy takes me back to a faint memory of the first Earth Day and the commotion on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. I did not take part that April day in 1970.  While at the University I recall discussions concerning feeding an overpopulated world but not the environment.   Back then I was mostly into graduating, meeting girls, and reducing sugar in my diet.  Who can forget the taste of Tab?

Here is a video of Marvin Gaye’s Mercy Mercy Me:

The color theme of this artwork is simple ecology.  The musical staffs, or my musical sticks, represent the land as bright green.  As the music moves across the artwork the colors fade to a near-death brown.  Then my sticks revive to a life returning light green that deepens to symbolize the recovery of the environment.  The round musical flow wood shapes, covered with digital canvas images of the sky follow the same environments changes.  I cover the 10×10 canvases to protect the mounted digital canvas images.

Scott Von Holzen

*My favorite Marvin Gaye song is I Heard it through the Grapevine.  That moment arrived at the opening scene of the movie The Big Chill.  I must not forget the California Raisins commercials.