Tag: Music

S_V_H Chopin Prelude final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Seeing this artwork in the studio only then can you grasp its three-dimensional effects. Since I am in the Studio, I see enough pieces of this never ending puzzle snapping together to confirm this is the way forward. The long path of this art genre, Interactive Constructive Sculpture, or to simply (MusicBoxArt (MBA)), is opening to a clearing of whatever-I-am-doing, wherever-it-is-going, it all appears good-to-go.

L97″xH45″xW5″
MusicBoxArt the music



When I started this project, I took a ruler and open up the tailgate of our RAV 4 to measure what was the longest and widest artwork it could comfortably fit. That turned out to be an artwork 6 feet but no wider than two feet. I then returned to the studio to cut two feet off a 6 foot wide primed canvas roll for this Chopin project. Although the canvas was two shorter than I needed, I figured that was a problem I would eventual solve. I did. The length of this artwork (MBA) is eight feet, and the added two extra feet expanded the depth of the artwork, creating a dramatic effect. That is good. This music is dramatic.

Since the beginnings of this art I have tried different techniques to add movement and drama to these artworks. That was done in the effort to bring an artwork closer to the many emotional dimensions of the sound of a song. This latest music box is showing new promise.

Scott Von Holzen







S_V_H Chopin Prelude in e minor image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
Chopin Prelude music overreach

This image shows my first test hanging of this Chopin project on a canvas that comes up short. I knew I would need eight feet of artwork to accommodate my already truncated version of this music. The canvas length is only six feet. I picked that size canvas because that is the maximum length, along with a width of twenty-four inches, that I can comfortably load in our 2014 RAV 4. If you look behind my 1974 self-portrait in the next image, you will see part of the artwork titled Schindler’s List. I cannot fit this work in the car, therefore I cannot show it. To make this capable of travel, the plan is to break this half of the artwork into two smaller pieces. That will not be easy, and that is why this Chopin project will be made to fit. I want to exhibit it. Also, the image below of the layout of the music on front tables shows my later plan to accommodate an eight-foot artwork on a six-foot canvas.

Prelude on the tables
My draft audio for this project

This outstanding ArtinMusic video shows my first test to confirm that I have solved the problem of an eight-foot artwork work on a six-foot canvas. It includes a minor mishap that confirms the toughness of this construction, which just may add to the definition of what is art.

I would like to make a brief comment about today’s elevation of high craft as art, which blurs the separation of what is Art and what is a craft. Let me add to the confusion with the idea that all art is craft, but not all craft is art. Much of today’s art is craft disguised as art. That is because craft sells. The public does not want to spend their monies on an object that has no physical value unless it is finely crafted. That means the artist must have put in a lot of effort into it, which then justifies the buyer paying an excessive amount of money for an object that has little physical value or use. Art Galleries and Art Exhibitions see that also and that is why everything out there that sells today is short on being Art and high on craft. Of course I said that all art is craft, but not all craft is art. That points directly at the problem of defining Art which is a lot easier to grip if an object has a quality finished high craft look therefore it must be art. The Art Galleries and the Art Exhibitions see that and run with it for their own survival. The Art market is all in on maintaining the flow of money. Calling something that is actually nothing, Art makes it easier to sell. Especially if it’s pretty.

Is this 91 million dollar auction price in 2019 of a Jeff Koons stainless steel rabbit Art or craft?


Is this 1917 Readymade by Marcel Duchamp, if found today would certainly sell higher than the rabbit, Art or craft?

The obvious answer is Art, because of the monies. Or is the answer craft because neither the balloon rabbit nor the urinal present anything original. Or is there something else to consider?

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Chopin Prelude Op. 28 No. 4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

I have been working on this next project since October 8th. This work will be another Interactive Constructive Sculpture or to shorten the style name this is my next Music Box construction. Yes, as mentioned in previous posts the music has now become an integral part of this art, or then again, the music has now become a separate art performance attached to a visual artwork with the same name. Names or styles do not matter. What matters is originality and capturing the attention of the viewer.

According to Wikipedia, this music was requested by Chopin to be played at his funeral. I probably first heard it in the movie The Pianist, 2002, which I do remember watching. Rediscovering it lately I didn’t think of this music being necessarily sad or tragic, but rather a great example that reaches deep into my understanding of musical appreciation. I am not talking but music that touches one’s soul. That seems meaningless to me, for just what is “one’s soul?” I cannot define it, but I can say I feel it when I listen to it. Here is the version from the soundtrack of the movie The Pianist, which is two minutes and twenty-six seconds in length.

Of course, to not strain a viewer’s attention span much beyond one minute, I had to do some musical chopping. I have this draft arrangement that any Chopin fan would find shabby in comparison to the original. I would agree with that. That does change what I had to do. Viewers in front of a Picasso, Van Gogh, or Rembrandt artwork would be hard-pressed to last even one minute. Currently, the music is about a minute and a half, which is long. My hope is by editing out some of the repetitious measures, and upping the pace, that the music will keep the listener’s attention from drifting. The ending is also uplifting compared to all the covers I listened to. That is to keep the viewer from dozing off.

Chopin Prelude

The following is the only picture I have of this project. On a group of tables, I have laid out an idea of how the music will sweep across and beyond a six-foot-long, by two-foot canvas, it will somehow be mounted on.

Scott Von Holzen