One description of a painting:
So when asked to reflect upon a painting I first thought of Dennis Spiteri, here is a back story first; Dennis is a family friend who I often see at the odd christmas family get together. One christmas was at his house and during this time he showed us his studio, to which I was amazed.
Knowing full well of the incredible amount of pain in Dennis’s life he has used his artwork as a way of expression and creation. As an artist he has been painting for over 45 years, his style is quiet abstract and emotive. Dennis paints enormous wall size paintings and for each series which usually takes a few years, the series is often comprised of 8 – 10 paintings.
Dennis uses music as a main source of inspiration, each painting is constructed in this large space to classical music. This is a quote taken from his website discussing how music stirs emotion which ultimately begins the idea for his series;
“I was listening to Scriabin’s music with great enthusiasm at this time. His last symphony “Prometheus: The Poem of Fire” had an overwhelming effect on me and lead to the first painting of a new series that I decided to call Prometheus.”
The piece below was created to the song symphony No.15, I think this is a total of a 45 minute piece but I have linked in a shorter piece to showcase the type of music that inspires this piece. Which ultimately really adds another dimension when interpreting this abstract art piece. Often the studio plays the inspired music in the background when visitors come and view his work to really give that overall feel dennis intended upon.
This piece is the one I am choosing to reflect upon, I really love how this artwork is perceived differently when music is paired to the piece. I think its interesting when two mediums are combined together to initiate a meaning or a feeling.
The studio this year allows us to focus on light and the light in this piece is quite beautiful. The light and the movement of light in this piece follow a real flow, with darker corners that softly move upwards in a spiralling motion. The colours themselves really pop and create an exciting and brightly lit piece, but the darker tones also allow for some depth and darkness amongst the light.
