“Art is how we
decorate space;
Music is how we
decorate time.”
– Alex Clay Hutchings
Records, instruments, books and art supplies were my best friends as a child. I had epilepsy and the drugs and my blackouts isolated me socially. Thanks to my love for music and art, I never felt lonely. When I was 8, my family immigrated to the other side of the planet. Migration brought a love of travel and as a young adult, I often went on overseas trips alone with my Discman and a changing handful of CDs. Songs were my travel companions. I marked locations on a map by the music I listened to while there.
Thirty years pass in a flash. I've since lived at 27 addresses in various corners of the globe, and long given up on dragging crates of LPs with me. When it became possible in the new millennium to carry my entire music collection on an iPod, it was a miraculous revelation! Finally, I could experience my personal soundtrack anytime, wherever I was. I was thrilled with the possibility of being able to carry all my friends in my pocket – something we now take for granted.
So, when vinyl sales in the UK overtook the sale of digital music at the end of December 2016, I was shocked and intrigued …
Concept
This site documents my extensive creative investigation into the relationship between music and tangible expressions of it.
“The only unique thing I have to offer in this life is my own perspective. I hope to get people thinking more consciously about their experience of music, its relationship to memory and emotion, its ability to transport us while anchoring us in the present moment. Through music, I believe, we are known. We are understood. And despite all our imperfections, perhaps even because of them, we are loved."
In this practice, my process is a type of translation between sound and image. I want to highlight connections between musical and visual expression, and to explore the comparative value of digital and tangible media. So far, I’ve found our compulsion to own objects that represent and/or contain our favourite music relates to human needs around worship, identity, validation, longing and connection.
Thematic trends in my art tend to return to expressions of movement, transcendence, connection, memories and experiences of space and distance.