THE VISUAL DESCRIPTION OF SOUND
SONISM
BY LAURANCE BLACKWELL
"SONISM IS LIKE A BLIND MAN RUNNING HIS FINGERS OVER AN UNKNOWN OBJECT, TRYING TO IMAGINE IT'S FORM AND TEXTURE."
It is not difficult to imagine a fresh running stream from a musical composition designed to describe it, as there is a similarity in sound. But how does one explain Debussy's success in portraying the passing of the moon behind the clouds in the "Clair de Lune"? It defies explanation.
My work falls into the latter category. "Sonism" is a term I coined myself for the visual description of all sounds. As in most forms of art, there are certain basic rules. In "Sonism" these are obvious and natural; with regard to pitch, a high sound would be thin and pale in colour, a low sound broad and deep in colour.
With regard to quality, a hard, abrupt sound would be indicated by a sharply defined edge, an indistinct sound by a soft feathered edge. There is, of course, scope for variation in texture between these two extremes.
This is straight-forward, but all rules are broken, and in this case they are broken most of the time by the atmosphere or feeling created by a sound; this often happens with music. This is where the mind takes over, for some results can be completely irrational but seem "right" for that occasion.
Another aspect of "Sonism" is the inevitable necessity to condense a period of time into a limited measurement on canvas. Yet when one examines even a continuous sound, the actual sound is very short; its continuity is produced by means of repetition
So, when all variations and repeats are stripped away, there are few basic short sounds left to work on.
This is the basis of "Sonism". It is pure art straight from the mind with no consideration for other art that has been produced. Each new canvas has no connection with those that have gone before it. If there is a similarity, it is because of an essential affinity in sound.
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