Trevor Jones is a 40-year-old Canadian artist who graduated two years ago from Edinburgh University's MA in Fine Art Programme. 'He has,' says Union Gallery's Rob Dawkins, 'already forged himself a formidable reputation as an abstract painter of exceptional talent'.
Synæsthesia II, his first solo exhibition, opened on Broughton Street last night and will run until 29 November.
The collection was inspired by the music of contemporary Scottish bands and singers (see below), the essence of whose work Jones tries to capture in a visual medium. This is where the exhibition's title applies. Synæsthesia is a sensation produced at a point different to the point of stimulation; for example, touch experienced as taste or, as here, sound as light.
Philosophers have considered such relationships since at least the days of Ancient Greece. Some artists – Kandinsky, Hockney– have experienced synæsthesia as a neurological reality, while others have consciously developed formal correspondences or codes linking one sense to another. The Australian painter Roy De Maistre, for example, worked with colour to soothe shell-shocked veterans of the First World War before going on to help design a Colour–Music Theory. His chart comprised a wheel around whose rim was a rainbow. Spokes divided the wheel into twelve segments with different notes and colours allocated to each: A=red, B=orange, C=yellow etc. Using this system, he claimed to harmonise colours just as a musician harmonised vibrations. Colour and music could even harmonise with each other.
Trevor Jones sees himself as working very much in this tradition: 'There is a long history of both scientists and artists attempting to establish a connection betweeen music and colour; however, while no meaningful relationship has been measured this hasn't hindered the creation of artworks that are still insightful, challenging, or simply visually stimulating and engaging'.
Jones may start from a technical correlation between, say, a particular colour and key, but the process soon becomes more fluid and intuitive. The works in this exhibition are personal responses to music rather than attempts at literal translation. Dawkins admires Jones's 'remarkable awareness and sincerity' in creating works which seek to express a kind of truth through rhythms and patterns, text and textures.
Visitors to the exhibition are invited to view the pictures whilst listening on an MP3 player to the tracks which inspired them. I tried this and found the experience distracting. The music is not necessary to appreciate the finished work as Jones's abstracts are spectacularly successful in their own right. They have spacious, thoughtful, emotionally engaged qualities and it is a real pleasure to let the eye and mind roam through them at leisure. My favourites: Square Go; Hold on II; Harry's in Heaven; and She's Coming Down.
De Maistre helped shell-shocked veterans. Perhaps Jones can do something similar for Broughton residents suffering from November.
Play-list
1. Who's Got a Match Biffy Clyro
2. Hold On KT Tunstall
3. Last Request Paolo Nutini
4. Love Song for a Vampire Annie Lennox
5. Milk Garbage
6. The Sun Smells Too Loud Mogwai
7. Square Go Fish
8. Ulysses Franz Ferdinand
9. Country Girl Primal Scream
10. She's Coming Down Elkin
11. The Room The Twilight Sad
12. Harry's in Heaven Martyn Bennet
13. Day into Night Kat Healy
14. Second Step Graeme Stephen
15. Swim until you can't see Land Frightened Rabbit
16. Ghost in the Arcade Idlewild
AM