Category: Classical music

For Rhapsody in Blue, I am following my current practice of building the artwork in sections off of the canvas frame.  In image two you can see the seven sections that compose this work.  Each part is carefully constructed so that when added to the artwork everything aligns.

What makes it practical to create these artworks this way is that I have all the beams parallel the frame of the artwork. This removes a common style of sheet music, where the beam changes it angle based on the up or down positioning of the flow.

I have always depicted accurately the up and down flow of the artwork. Breaking these artworks in sections has me thinking of  Cubism.   I would like to find a way to allow the artwork to still flow from left to right but in a lot loser, and disconnected format that still represents the music I am portraying.

Scott Von Holzen

 

Rhapsody in Blue first image may be a little strange-looking considering it is long and narrow with the main subject matter above the framework of the canvases.  Right now this artwork is 85 inches long by 16 inches high.  I am seeing a lot of challenge ahead because of this unusual configuration. Luckily, I have a copyright free version of the music so that will be attached to this artwork.  Although most of the music runs together and includes a lot of orchestration I did find a small clarinet solo for this artwork that begins and ends nicely.

Here is Rhapsody in Blue from the Disney movie Fantasia 2000. The music this artwork is portraying is from 4:14 to 4:18:

Thinking I have gone to far,  I am backing off of the fairly wide and random use of color seen in my two previous Mozart works, Rondo Alla Turca, and Serenade No. 13.   I went in that direction after seeing this trend in commercial and local artists that got me thinking about the Color Field painters. The problem I am now realizing is that there are a lot of loud looking and disjointed use of solid colors in today’s art.  I see this as not advancing the early great colorist like  Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, Morris Louis, and Piet Mondrian, What I am feeling is that this type of art is generally boring and uninspired,  and often visually devaluing color.  Generally, I do not like mural painting, but for all its prettiness, I eventual went from very colorful to being dismissive of this 2018 mural image located downtown:

Those feelings led me to the realization that the current crop of in the style of color-field artists are not getting their inspiration from Art history,  but instead from baby toys:

That leads me to this totally over the top mural by this seeming respected street artist Hense:

Still, the kid lives on: the bigger the Crayola box the more crayons and colors to surprise. But I am moving on with the help gained from my experience at the Minnesota Marine Art museum in Winona.  That trip has given me the incentive to revisit the fundamental reasons for color in art.  By taking a closer look at how the past masters in art handled color, maybe I can find a new direction.  Even a hint of an idea could offer an interesting twist on the color blue,  that is Rhapsody in Blue.

Scott Von Holzen