Synesthesia

This weekend began an investigation into the senses; Taste, Sight, Smell, Touch and Sound. Exploring their models by definition and how they apply to my creative process. I find that most individuals rarely crisscrosses or merge these [senses} together…  and this is exactly what has happened as I approach the completion of the current painting. Dumping all the senses in a huge vessel and mixing up a fresh batch of perception.

 

Sunday evening as I placed the finishing touches on the eyelashes on “Remedy of Memory” the idea crossed my mind to modify my current interpretations of the senses… by asking different questions, pushing the (my) boundaries.

 

Example:

The subject ~ Purple… random, but you will get the idea.

 

For the most part we all have a collective idea of what Purple looks like.  This is based on our sense of Sight.

 

The questions that grew from this:

 

What does purple Taste like?

What does it Smell like?

What does it feel like to the Touch?

What does it Sound like?

 

This is just one color; think of all the many other possibilities… and then I moved on to the next topic…  eyelashes.

 

This exercise was conceived as I asked myself instead of what would they would look like…”What would they feel like to the Touch?”

 

So…what visually entered my mind… walking through an over grown jungle where everything was alive and bursting with nature. Not really anything that would be labeled “scary”, but something wild and vibrant… something breathing energy. (Did I mention that I love playing in the world of a surrealist?) Viewing them in this manner cause me to perceive the eyelashes differently and I started to paint them not as how I thought they should look but how I thought they would feel when touched.

 

 

So now… the question for you?

 

What does Purple sound like?

Remedy Of Memory

Remedy Of Memory

 

2 Responses to Synesthesia

  1. Dion Walton says:

    I love this painting , Jon-Michael!

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