Jazz Improvisation

Wayne Roberts is an Australian artist who explores a range of themes in a variety of mediums. In a particular series he explored the idea of interconnection between us. The artwork represents the connection between music, art, science, aesthetics, math, the properties of numbers and so much more. He states it is the interconnectedness of the Universe. A disc of color over the rectangular painting rises like the sun over the “planetary realm” which is represented as an abstract musical landscape.

Music comes into play based on the way the artist handled the paint and technique. The chromatic structure of music is reflected in the use of glaze techniques and their positioning and proportions. Roberts makes the connection to music through the horizontal dimension of music to the paintings line and form. Melody and line corresponds with the shapes within the painting. Dots within the painting, accents of intense color, tone, and direction of the paint correspond with the percussive aspects of music.

In Robert’s statements about his artwork, he speaks about his inspiration from Wassily Kandinsky’s work. Many pioneers of abstractionism have studied the parallel of music and art and are inspired by the research and composition Kardinsky has created.

A painting, Jazz Improvisation,explores the flow of watercolor and uses improvisation in the artist’s use of wet-on-wet technique. He states that the necessity of  “on-the-spot decisions in real time and brings a performance aspect to the painting which, while linked to the concepts of composition and critical thinking about the emerging asymmetric balance of the whole, also on the other hand, brings an intuitive impulse and vitality to the work.”

Kristin Kegler is a graduate of Buffalo State College with a BS in Art Education and minor in Art Therapy. She is currently studying Art Education and Creative Studies with Buffalo State College’s graduate programs.