Artists’ Talk - excerpt

A condensed excerpt from an Artist Talk given by Sharon & Tim Roberts for the opening of Audible Chroma at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery; July 18, 2010:

A wise man once said: “There is nothing new under the sun”1. 

Colour-field painting is not new, nor is the exploration of relationships between music and colour; nor even the collaboration between painter and musician. However each generation experiences afresh, and their response, while potentially informed by the work of those who went before, is uniquely their own revelation and outworking, even as it builds on our collective experience. 

This series of musical compositions and paintings began in 2005, with discussions about wavelengths of light & sound, possible relationships between them, and links between colour theory and music theory. A seed was planted, nurtured through discussion and research in to related areas, and gradually over time the idea formed of combining my paintings and Tim’s music. 

Our direction was to each express, through our art forms of painting and music, our emotive experience of single colours – primary, secondary, black and white. Rather than exploring the colour of music, we have attempted to express the music of colour. 

By the end of 2008, Tim had composed initial versions of each of the colours. I had begun painting with yellow, and experimenting with techniques to achieve the desired feeling for black. We started to think about presenting our work as an exhibition. 

Working in a compact studio, it wasn’t until the exhibition installation that we saw the paintings together. Added to that was the experience of hearing the music in the space with them, and the realisation that the dream begun 5 years earlier, had come to fruition in a way that was beyond what we had imagined. As people have connected with the work and responded to it in some way, the experience has been shared and enriched. 

Music and colour, the music of colour.

1 Ecclesiastes 1:9