Elegant Universe

 

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The “Elegant Universe / Mahler Project” attempts to conflate the ideas in the two sets of paintings labeled “Maria Callas” and “Automatism”. The objective is to serve simultaneously the idealized structure essayed in Maria Callas and the exhibitionist pole explored in Automatism. Below are the paintings which will serve as a preface to the Mahler Project.

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This marks the beginning of the Elegant Universe series. It suggests a multidimensional space through form and color, creating the basis for this Conceptual project.

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This is the second piece in the Elegant Universe project. Largely, it explores the possibilities of painting an abstracted landscape. The basic elements and their properties defined in the previous piece, “Quantum Weirdness”, are present, but liberties were taken in the stylistic approach.

 

 

 

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Third in the Elegant Universe series. In this painting, the elementary forms/colors begin to flourish. Notably, the blues (Prussian and Pthalocyanine) become more expressive lines and important compositional elements. The reds (limited to the deep Helios) also develop in character.

 

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Fourth in the Elegant Universe series. It is at this point that Gustav Mahler’s music becomes an integral part of the Elegant Universe project. The basic properties are more or less maintained. A new element is added: the admixture of the red and blue families. This is a statement that alludes to the conflation of ideas in Maria Callas and Automatism previously mentioned. Still, the confabulations through hue (and form) remain largely separated between the two families. ”Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen” is from the song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Text and translation of the lieder may be found on recmusic.org