Category: Classic Rock

S_V_H God only Knows image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

God only knows is a Series artwork  that for now is 27 1/2 inches in length and just over 6 inches in height.  This is also a commissioned project from the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. This song reached number twenty-five, and the album number two, on The Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs and 500 greatest albums of all time.

Today, was the first time that I actually listened to the entire album. No surprise that I enjoyed listening to the hits Sloop John B, Wouldn’t Be Nice and God Only Knows. As for the rest of the album the music reminded me that my appreciation of the Beach Boys was just that, the hits. Of course the hits where the only Beach Boys songs I heard growing up with the transistor radio.

This basic color scheme for this artwork comes form the Pet Sounds album, and a later Pet Sound Sessions commemorative release:


The color green does not dominate a lot of my artworks.  It is a color that I feel needs the support of other colors, mainly blue, to make it work.  That is why I was glad to see a nice pale blue used on both album covers.  I will build the music from that color.

Here is a new version of God only Knows, sung by Brian Wilson,  who wrote the music:

Finally, here is the original studio version song by Brian’s younger brother Carl Wilson:

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vogue Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
Vogue, acrylic on three canvases, with aluminum and wood features, 64 1/4″ in length by 22 1/4 in height.

Vogue, what the Hell are we looking at here? For the first time viewers of this blog they probably see a mixed media abstraction, minus fabric and beads.* To returning quests  Vogue’s style (stripped of emotion) is that of a three dimensional representation of a flow of music that is the theme Vogue. Looking at Vogue I can see this artwork in either way. Together that means Vogue shifts from the main purpose of the background which is to physically support the music.  With Vogue this is a return to the blending of the music into the artwork as seen in these early examples.

Joy to the World – 2006
Mood Indigo – 2007

Aspects of how Vogue blends the music into the background can be seen in comparison with In The Mood, the current header image of this blog site.  The obvious difference with Vogue is the amount of decorative design, and the overall use of the same colors for the music and the background, not seen in In The Mood.

A notable physical change with Vogue is the spacing of the music which is purposely tight, to create more tension between pieces. In comparison the music from In The Mood spreads across the background as if to take up space, resembling sheet music. Another blending technique is in the stem design. The stems used for In The Mood are all standardized, similar to their appearance in sheet music. With Vogue the sheet music look is broken by the varying depth of the stems across the artwork.

I consider Vogue a major work because of its size, complexity, and the time required, over three weeks, to complete. Vogue is the third original artwork completed this year. That means a possible total of only twelve new original artworks for 2018. That is not much output, that became startlingly obvious when the local gallery took seven of my current artworks. This left the number of newest works for other venues, very thin. That is where the development of my mini-artworks, that average each a day or less to produce, will help the production numbers.

 

(This video like all my videos starts out great for the first few seconds, and then quickly deteriorates into a lot of mumbling and incomplete sentences.  What saves this video is the self deprecation of the lyrics discussion near the end.  It is a laugh.)

Scott Von Holzen

*reference to a local artist genre

S_V_H Vogue Image 4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

With this fourth image Vogue is nearing completion.  What still needs to be done are the words,  a few minor add-on wood pieces,  and the finishing. In past projects finishing meant mostly touching up the paint, and sharpening edges.  What will be different with Vogue is the finishing.

Vogue builds on the influences of the Vivaldi artwork RV531, mentioned in an earlier blog, and the recently completed commercial project, Like A Rock. Where Vogue differs from its predecessors  is the overall emphasis on the decorative.  In addition to my standard touching up I am going to look at adding some extra Art Deco features to Vogue.

My unwritten plan for Vogue was to abandoned more of the last influences of sheet music. With Vogue I am seeing the typical domination of the flow of the music, lessened  by other features that can also represent music.  With the artwork Vogue the next giant step forward may now be possible.  It is time.  After twelve years of work I need to finally step through that door, and close it behind. There are other handles needing reaching.

This is my 550th post. I think that is remarkable documentation of this artist’s journey.  The best is yet to come.

Scott Von Holzen