Landscape Painting and The Inventor of the Piano
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
This is the third day in a row that I have tried to focus on painting a landscape outside my living room window. Being the son of an artist, one tends not to go into a parent’s occupation and field of expertise. Still, there is that vision that I have in my head, and what I see outside the window matches pretty much, concerning how I feel, a workable relationship. I never or ever cared about contemporary art. I’m primarily interested in capturing nature not only how I see it but also how most people see it. So as an ‘artist,’ I always want to share a shared vision that we all have: nature. The tricky part is the skill of conveying that image and finding the perfect picturesque quality of that painting.
Most people I know are very much taken with the skill of the artist or painter, or even musician. For instance, it is hard for most to convey if the idea is good or even original, but on the other hand, if I can play the piano and use certain stylish flourishes on the keyboard, most people will be satisfied with the results. My focus is very much on that aspect of making art. For instance, I pretty much studied the works of the American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church. He specializes in painting realistic landscapes and added a touch of spirituality to the mix as well. When we examine nature, we’re trying to see the face of God. A landscape painting has certain aspects to search for a religious feeling through the relationship between the sky and the trees. The psychology of the painter, where he or she (there are woman painters as well) exposes their inner demons by attaching them to an image of nature. Or perhaps one wants to make the ‘ideal’ world by expressing the beauty of such a nature. When we put an animal or even a human in a landscape painting, I find that risky. That image could throw off the whole theme of the work or bring the viewer to another part of the world, where you, the artist, don’t want to take advantage of the viewer. It’s a complicated relationship. That’s for sure.
The mechanical skill of using the brush is of great importance. The fact is that I want to hide my brushstrokes to make it look like no artist touched the painting. I hope to lessen the artist’s presence in the work, so the viewer can concentrate on the work without thinking about me as the artist. There are individuals out there who always want to take the credit, but for me, I rather the work take the credit, and if the viewer can forget that I painted the picture, well, that is the charm of the art piece itself.
Bartolomeo Cristofori is considered to be the inventor of the piano. Initially, he thought of the keyboard as being attached to various species of cats - because each type of cat has a specific sound. This, of course, wasn’t logical for multiple reasons. For one, the original piano wire, made out of catguts, is considered cruel - especially when that piano string may be a relative to the actual cat used in the keyboard. Over time, the catgut was replaced by a piano wire made from tempered high-carbon steel. And, of course, attaching the steel wire to a cat was not such a hot idea. The big problem I see between a painter (like myself) and a piano player is that of ego. I believe when one hears or sees a performance, they immediately think of the player and his or her (there are woman piano players as well) performing that music.
On the other hand, you come upon the painting if you walk into a gallery or museum (hopefully, that is where my work will end up). The viewer throws themselves into the imagery and the spiritual feeling of the piece. The painter is removed from the work, which I think is the proper position of an artist.
The tension between music and the visual arts is like putting a cat and dog together in a cage. The personalities of both beasts are so different from one another. I think the music and the visual arts need to be separate from each other. I get upset when I pick up a classical music album, and they utilize a romantic landscape painting on its cover. I don’t believe that it is the role of the painter or artist to convey what the music sounds like that is inside the album cover.