Toto – aRT iN mUSIC

S_V_H Africa Final Image

Published on 01/06/2019 by Scott Von Holzen

Africa: acrylic paint, with six canvases, with wood and aluminum features. About 50 3/4 inches in length by 32 inches high, by about 3 1/4 inches in-depth.

After one month of work Africa is finished. I created this artwork to be the submission to this years Artwest Exhibition. Although, if accepted, this work would be installed in a library, I did shake-the-tree, by adding sound, although tone down:

This artwork’s look, comes from more than the usual amount of internet research, that included the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, African music, and African fashion. Like Toto, at the time of the music’s release, I have never been to Africa. In fact “I’ve never been to Spain,” but I kinda like the popular African instrument, the Marimba, which work well with this artwork’s soundtrack. Africa’s experimental rectangular format, cut the length of this artwork from over eight feet, to just over four feet, in length. For this musical theme I think the two connected backgrounds canvases, each 10 x 20 inches, gave this artwork a solid foundation, plus added a lot of sculptural depth to the entire work. The dimensions of this Artwork make me wonder what I could call this art style. I have tried and rejected, painting, mixed media, outsider art, the Russian art style Constructivism, the Combine art style of Robert Rauschenberg, Conceptual Art, and finally every current art style that deals with Interaction. I have nothing. Therefore I default to Mixed Media on the entrance forms, because this Art hangs on a wall, unlike traditional Sculpture, and Other just songs icky.

I used many different colors in this artwork, which lead me to stop and write what colors went where. That became an issue because the theme of this artwork has an unusual story telling look. Starting from top left to bottom right, this artwork begins with the night and the stars. That leads to a sunny day with rain. Than from the bottom left you have the Serengeti, with rain again, and finally on the bottom right there is Mount Kilimanjaro.

After a long month of working on this project, I want to now move on. As I said before, I expect this Artwork to be rejected for submission. That means it will probably sit out-of-the-way, on the left easels, until I finish my next big project. Than there will no longer be any room for it, and that is when it will be off to Storage. But while it is in the studio, it will be an example for change for the next artwork. The look of Africa does present new opportunities. What, and how, and where I will take this art, I have no idea, but I believe it is time to take a fresh look at the relationship between music and painting. That leaves Three Dog Night to help motivate me to keep on keeping on. And if you have forgotten, and you should never forget (no matter your age), “Jeremiah was a bullfrog
Was a good friend of mine:”

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Africa image 4

Published on 01/04/201901/04/2019 by Scott Von Holzen

Africa image four. I am near done, so I wanted to push this image out. The large violet and blue piece of wood is my interpretation of Mount Kilimanjaro as part of this artwork’s theme.

The rest of the artwork, displays even more my interpretation of the story of the lyrics and the musical theme of the song, Africa.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Africa image 3

Published on 12/30/2018 by Scott Von Holzen

Previous early new year paintings have anticipated directional changes in style to come in the new year. Africa continues that trend with the added incentive that it will be my submission for the local library juried show, this April. For 2019 the library is celebrating its 40th Art West exhibition. Last year I entered the wonderful In The Mood, which until today was the header picture for this blog. That artwork was not accepted. That surprised me. What was and am I missing? I suspect that same result with this years Africa submission, because this is a “celebration” year for the Library. That means, and this is only my sense, that the entry competition will be strong with a prejudice tilted to the popular and known local artists. My hope lies with the two experienced artists doing this years judging. One of them may will have a momentary Art insight with the independence to invite me. They may see Africa as I do as a leading contemporary artwork, not just locally, but everywhere. If nothing happens, maybe they will have the respect to email my rejection, without my requesting. Otherwise no regrets, I still will have a great Artwork to start to a new year.

This third image shows the upper and lower music mounted to the background. Drilling holes and screwing canvases together brought back memories of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Artworks, and the care needed to support and align canvas parts correctly. I had the easier option to attach the top and bottom canvases to the top and bottom edges of the background, but that looked too two-dimensional. The top section theme is the night sky and the day with rain falling. The lower music color theme is the Serengeti, along with the eventual addition of mount Kilimanjaro.

During our local Art association Christmas party, Sandra an artist, who had exhibited along side me in a fall art show, suggested that to increase the interest in my music paintings, that I could take a song like Blue Moon, and paint that as a landscape with a blue moon. Although her thinking had merit I felt a little taken back. I did not tell her that most of my artworks already include colors, and design aspects related to the music, or that if I did paint the song Blue Moon, a blue moon would be certainly be a visual point of interest, along with other shades of acrylic blues. I did thank her politely, and turned away, stunned that I had nothing else to say. Only now do I understand my silence: I have never had to defend my artwork to strangers. Up to that Christmas party moment no one, beyond close family and my first CVA meeting in Wausau, over the last thirteen years, have ever challenged the merits of my art. Sandra, was a big surprise, and a come to Jesus moment.

For now here are two examples of this art connecting paint to flow. This is a an image of Waylon’s guitar and the artwork Waymore’s Blues.