It is a proven fact that the environment we surround ourselves within, influences who we are as people. The same can be said for most artists and their creative process; When we experience different types of sounds, they evoke different feelings within us.
It is no wonder that more artists have started to speak up about the music they listen to while painting, drawing and creating, and how music & art simply go hand-in-hand. Linda Riesenberg, an artist out of Cincinnati, Ohio spoke to AXS about how she listens to music while painting saying, “I do all the time. What I listen to can affect how I paint. I’ll never forget what came out of me when I listened to the Doors! The pace of the music, the melody and lyrics always play a part in my paint application and how quickly I paint. Music, like our paintings, is meant to touch our souls and help us enjoy the good times and endure the bad.”
Artist Daniel Mazzone, who some are calling the Andy Warhol of our generation and who has created incredible artworks of musicians such as Alicia Keys, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and Frank Sinatra, is a prime example of how music plays an important part in an artist’s life and work. Speaking exclusively to AXS out of his home in Toronto, Canada, Daniel explains, “Music can easily set or change what mood you’re in at any moment, which shows how big of an influence it can be to your brain, without even knowing. Music is always all around us. With everything going on in the world today, it can be a very dark place. I love the fact that music brings joy to people. This feeling can affect the way we go through our day just as how art brings us a feeling. These emotions also can reflect the way we feel and treat others. Music and art are extremely similar because both revolve around building an emotional connection with the listener or viewer.”
And what Linda and Daniel say proves true to today’s society and how even music festivals have started to incorporate art exhibitions into them. For the past two years in San Diego, California, the KAABOO Music Festival has featured a variety of contemporary public art installations, some in place when you arrive and others created live on-site during the event. With headline acts such as Aerosmith, Jack Johnson, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Buffett, Lenny Kravitz and the Goo Goo Dolls, festival goers can enjoy the sounds while taking in the art in all forms. Camille Roman, a contemporary artist who has worked at KAABOO in the past tells me, “When I am doing one of my romantic paintings, I listen to love songs or mood maker songs by Enrique Iglesias, Michael Buble, Robin Thicke or even country songs by Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw or Trace Adkins.”
From festivals to simple art galleries, music is everywhere! Recently in Hollywood, California, CreoPop, the world's first 3D printing pen, put on a 3D art exhibition at Artspace Warehouse Gallery - AXS was there! The showcase featured 3D sculptures created by famed local California artists such as Morley, Dr. Robby Gordon, Richard Grieco, and Shane Stover, and internationally known artists like TakerOne (Hungary), Semen Snitsar (China), Ksenia Nazarova (Singapore) and Hedva Ser (Paris). But while people were browsing the 3D art, the background music in the gallery is what kept everything feeling more alive. Traditionally, art shows can seem boring to a general audience, but add in some music, and BOOM! the setting has changed. At the CreoPop event I attended, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake and other artists could be heard blasting through the speakers, with guests moving their heads while checking out what the 3D artworks were all about. Not a moment went by that people weren't entertained, both by the art and the sounds filling their ears.
And while music can help artists enjoy their creation process more, or help set a mood at a gallery showing, it can also help artists to inspire new pieces that amaze. Artist Jason Humbly out of Hollywood, California, reveals to AXS, “Whenever I find myself in a rut or out of basic ideas, I put on something I don’t usually listen to. Within minutes a new idea pops into my head as I try to create artwork to reflect how these new sounds/lyrics are making me feel.”
With this all said, music & art will live on together in harmony for the rest of our days… They simply are a beautiful couple. As Ludwig van Beethoven once famously said, "Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents."
