S_V_H The music box Closer image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
The first layout plan at ten feet works with the 3.5-inch notes I cut out for this project. Then I decided I wanted to include the incidentals.
The second plan increases the length of the artwork to 11 feet using the 3.5-inch notes and adding in those incidentals.
This third design returns the artwork back to a final length of less than 10 feet. I removed two 12 x 24-inch canvases. See the second image. I then returned to my very first image plan using 10 x 20-inch canvases as their replacement. My size constraints required that I cut out all new notes, reducing their size to 3 inches in diameter. A later decision was to replace each of the two smaller end canvases with rectangular pieces of metal.

One design factor for this new work was that its length of 10 feet did not include the speaker boxes. Usually, the added speakers mount onto the ends of the artwork. I cannot do that here because of the requirements of fitting all the music on the canvases and still keeping the 10 feet length. The solution for the speaker boxes was to use the two 16×20 end canvases for the speaker boxes. The musical notes on those canvases I will then place on a curved metal sheet. I showed an example below from Metamorphosis 2. This keeps the overall length as is, while the curved metal sheet also adds depth to the artwork. After taking a longer look at the purpose artwork, I decided I needed to reduce its length, but still retain all the incidentals. I did this by reducing the size of my notes from 3.5 inches to 3 inches.

Example from Metamosphsis2 using curved steel plates.

This is an updated draft of the cover music for the music box Closer. The music has more punch and a better up-and-down flow to the music.

The final artwork will display the three last lines from the cover music. Those lyrical lines are “We are never getting older, We are never getting older, and No, we are never getting older.” I am repeating the repeating idea that I used in the previous project: Don’t Give up. In that work, I wrote those three words probably a couple of hundred times. That many repeats won’t happen here because of the length of the lines.

Include in this art’s documentation, I will attend a reception at The Art Garage in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Friday, the 11th from 5pm until whenever I become bored. Pictures to follow. Of the seven members of EmptyWallsArt, only two Don and I will be there. All the others are attending to “family matters and shabby excuses.”

Scott Von Holzen