I have finished the artwork, and the image above shows the music’s up and down flow for the lyrics: “Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard.” My impression, compared to the previous project, is this artwork’s style is simpler, with a cleaner, less congested look. That happened for I found a method, different from using U-shaped aluminum, to ensure that the support boards holding the music hold their shape. One other difference is I am experimenting with using a shorter three foot metal bar that matches the main canvases length. This metal type has a better magnetic hold when attaching the music.

This art rests on a song’s melody. All projects begin when a music’s melody catches my attention. Contemporary music, and certainly rap, places a greater emphasis on the beat, with the melody often taking a supporting role or used only to elevate the song. However, I do fine exceptional music to paint regardless of the decade. Melody alone may not be enough to be my next project. Frequently, I opt for a song because of its lyrics and how they align with my mood, even if the melody is not exceptional.

I recently read that there are 120,000 songs uploaded to streaming services every day. Also, online art sites like Saatchi Art for example, have over 1 million pieces of art on display for sale. I thought the internet allowed a person not in a major art center to get connected to the wider art market. Yes, I am connected, connected with a million others trying to get connected. And that is my current art path: an unending merry-go-around that keeps bringing me back to where I started. Once again, here I am, back at another crossroads.

It appears my social art group, EmptyWallsArt, is no longer. I am still working with four remaining members to do a local show in a wine bar, but that is it. I am taking part in this show even though I know this art does not have a ghost-of-a-chance* to sell, or even get a mentioned. Bars and restaurants that hang art, hang Decorative Art, and this art lacks the market appeal.

* “Like a million little doorways
All the choices we made
All the stages we passed through
All the roles we played” – Rush – Ghost of a Chance ( C grade for lacking melody and yet many comments on how much they love this song and this live performance)

I first heard this interesting comment when picking up a Mozart artwork at the Trout Museum in 2019. A woman said how the children enjoyed playing the music. Since then, other comments from a show have been about the music. I do not recall any comments other than the music. Even beyond art shows, I do not recall any memorable comments directed to my artworks over the last 18 years beyond a work’s color choices. Maybe there were comments long ago when I sold on Etsy, but I don’t recall. And if I missed something said about an artwork, it surely would have been a brief comment, and rarely a question.

Those times that someone has commented have always surprised me. Of course, having my moment, my reaction would be to over explain and detail the artwork to them. And yet consistently silence, or a nod, always followed my response. Recently I began wondering if maybe this art is difficult to understand. Commenting on the music is easy, compared to an artwork that is not a figurative portrait, a landscape, a still life, or an abstraction. Therefore, the casual viewer, and the juror, passes by, having nothing to compare it to. I believe my decision years ago that in order for me to take up painting; I had to find a style that was all my own. I certainly accomplished that.

Scott Von Holzen