The genesis of the title of this painting is Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana’s album, MEHLIANA, “Taming the Dragon,” which I was obsessed listening to while I lived in Fallbrook.
This is one of the first experiential action paintings to music that I accomplished without any knowledge of what that was or the connection between sight and sound, though I used the connection daily.
“Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, color or flavor.”
I have it a kind of different way. I had a friend who told me about it, and he had it, but I never made the connection to myself. That took ten more years to see what was in front of me. I see what I hear and I hear what I see when I'm painting or composing BUT the connective tissue is EMOTION. It doesn't happen unless I'm emotionally, viscerally connected to the work. I have to LOVE what I'm listening to or be MOVED by what I witness. I thought everyone had it. I still do. I did not think it was special in any way. I still do.
Red
The red of this seeming dragon is the blood of its sacrifice to the great goddesses of music, The Mousai. There could be no other way but death and rebirth. Movement after movement, like music. The dragon’s figure curves itself into the shape of a Treble Clef when it realizes the inevitability of its demise.
Movement after Movement
Time after time, movement after movement, we go on and on. We are eternal. Time has no beginning. It has no end. Neither do you.
"Mehliana's Dragon"
36" x 36" acrylic on canvas