To coincide with our current exhibition For Your Health and Pleasure, Grundy has worked with four contemporary artists; Serena Korda, Flora Yin-Wong, Ashley Holmes and Seohye Lee, who have developed soundscapes inspired by artworks in the exhibition.
Through a variety of scenes, ranging from the hyper-local to the distant sublime; the seaside and the ocean, valleys, lakes, mountains, gardens and public parks, the exhibition transports us, taking us to places, many of which for the time being at least, remain out of reach. Our restricted experience of these scenes in not limited to their view alone but also their accompanying sounds.
Grundy’s Education Officer has worked with these artists, who have developed soundscapes inspired by artworks in the exhibition; their auditory interpretations of these works offer an alternative audio tour evoking the sounds of these scenes.
The impact of the pandemic, the restrictions of lockdown and the safety measures embedded into reopening the gallery have raised ideas about alternative forms of practice and display and the use of technology within the dissemination of art. These sonic artworks transcend the physical space of the art gallery and offer those who are still shielding and restricted in their movement and travel the opportunity to experience the artwork in their own space and time, providing an alternative way of experiencing art and acknowledging the important role artists and institutions can have in fostering care, renewal and exploratory ways of experiencing artwork.
These new soundscapes can be experienced both inside and outside of the gallery by using a mobile device which can play the work through headphones.
Listen/Stream
You can read more about the artists’ interpretations below:
Serena Korda‘s response to the painting Sunshine and Shadow in Epping Forest (c.1946) by F. H. Glasbury, Great Gable (1944) by Delmar Harmood Banner (1896–1983) and View From my Window (1937) by Cuthbert Cartwright Grundy (1846–1946):
“This painting (Sunshine and Shadow in Epping Forest) has a ‘paint by numbers’ quality that I was drawn to. I wanted to invoke the nature spirits of the woodland and improvise with field recordings to recreate the sensation of sunlight dancing on the forest floor. The piece evolved from some percussion I made when I worked in the ancient woodland at Speke Hall a few years ago. The main sample is called Beating the Bounds. It was exciting to rediscover these sounds, for me they summed up the mystical power of the woodland space, whilst indulging in the sinister potential of thudding and rustling sounds.
“The Great Gable’s dreamy pastel colour palate and subject matter instantly reminded me of surrealist painter and occultist Ithell Colquhouns magical work. In the Great Gable, I saw a throbbing alchemical inverted triangle, representing water. My musical response was to try and draw a triangle in the sounds that I made, working in a 3/4 time signature to emphasise the power of triangular energies emanating from this work.
The response to this painting (View From my Window), comes from my experience of being in lockdown without a garden. I was living in a flat but felt blessed that it was surrounded by trees. I indulged in much escapism, listening to the birds which became especially important to me. As many people noted the pandemics enforced slowing down of our impact on the environment allowed animals to repopulate cities and birdsong to become more amplified.”
Seohye Lee uses the mediums of sound and illustration to experiment with new forms of narrative, creating playful pieces that challenge the idea of listening. Drawing inspiration from her own hearing loss experience, Seohye aims to show the difference between hearing and listening; regardless of your hearing skill, one can always listen in variety of ways. Coming to terms with her own sonic identity led her to take ownership of sound by incorporating it into her practice.
Lee’s interpretation of Silver Sea by Albert Julius Olsson (1864–1942) and Lake Garda by Geoffrey Scowcroft Fletcher (1923–2004):
“When I work with sound, I start by thinking about what kind of narrative and atmosphere I’d like to create. For these pieces, I have chosen Geoffrey Scowcroft Fletcher’s Lake Garda and Albert Julius Olsson’s Silver Sea; these two paintings evoke a sense of calm and otherworldliness for me personally. While studying the paintings, I felt inspired to create a sound response that brings a similar feeling.
In creating my sound pieces, instead of using external speakers I use bluetooth to connect to my cochlear implant device. Having this direct digital connection to the sound, I am able to explore and experiment with multitudes of sounds I create using field recordings and digital synthesisers”.
Flora Yin- Wong‘s interpretation of Alpine Landscape (1939) by Antony Ayrton (1909 – 1943) and Santa Eulalia, Ibiza by Nina Blaker:
“For both pieces, they were a rather direct and emotive interpretation of the landscape paintings, evoking nature and ‘otherly’ locations as my work often does. With Santa Eulalia, the conceptual inspiration stemmed from the namesake, in Greek, Ευλαλια, meaning ‘well-spoken’, which I tried to translate into wordlessness through mellifluous flow and textures. Whilst for Alpine Landscape, I wanted to evoke a sense of overwhelming calmness, a dramatic yet serene backdrop. I aimed to focus on the presence of water and yet also take into account the presence of humans with the man-made architectural features”.
Ashley Holmes‘ interpretation of Waterfall in Sweden by Albert Julius Olsson (1864–1942) and Lac d‘Annecy (c.1962) by John Michael Wishart (1928-1996):
My work and research explores the roles and traditions of Black musical practices and different forms of storytelling to understand the ways memories, cultural histories and mythologies are passed on and retold. Recently I have been exploring ways of examining the associations, experiences and disenfranchisement we might encounter to the places that we live and grow up in.
Both pieces use music and field recordings gathered from various locations across the UK over recent months, to interpret the paintings ‘Waterfall in Sweden’ by Albert Julius Olsson and ‘Lac d‘Annecy’ by John Michael Wishart.
The paintings made me consider my own proximity to the two landscapes depicted and think about the legacies of writers, artists and musicians making work and drawing relationships between bodies of water and the natural world, as a means of exploring the continuity, permanence and perseverance in the breadth of Black experience.