exhibition
MUSIC AS IMAGE AND METAPHOR at Kentler

About the exhibition

MUSIC AS IMAGE AND METAPHOR
SELECTIONS FROM THE KENTLER FLATFILES 

Co-Curators: David Houston and Florence Neal
Musical Track by Michael Kowalski and Allen Otte
 

Exhibition Dates: February 11 - March 26, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 11, 4-6pm

EVENTS:
Panel Discussion: Saturday, March 11, 4pm
Not just a pretty picture and not just a pretty tune –
The image confronts music confronts the image.
Concert: Sunday, March 12, 4pm
by Allen Otte - percussionist and composer
 

Artists:

Herbert Brün, Beth Caspar, Phillip Chen, Abby Goldstein, Takuji Hamanaka, Keiko Hara, robin holder, Richard Howe, Hannah Israel, Mary Judge, Kazuhiro Nishijima, Ralph Kiggell, Rosalinda Kolb, Jiří Kornatovský, Robert Lansden, Simon Lewandowski, Jim Napierala, Florence Neal, Margaret Neill, Morgan O’Hara, Gahae Park, Jaanika Peerna, Scott Pfaffman, Orlando Richards, Susan Schwalb, Viviane Rombaldi Seppey, Molly Snyder-Fink, Hugh Williams

Music as Image and Metaphor brings together forty-one works by twenty-eight artists from the Kentler Flatfiles (Brooklyn, NY) focused on the theme of music.  The theme of music-as-image includes works that were directly inspired by or are illustrative of sound art, while the image-as-metaphor theme encompasses a diverse group of works that, directly or indirectly, reflect the structure and artistic goals of musical composition and improvisation.  As an incentive to the viewer to pursue these rich connections more deeply, the exhibition also includes a suite of one-minute musical responses to each graphic work, specially created for the inaugural installation of the show at the Bartlett Center.  Some of the connections are direct and clear, others poetic or even fanciful.  Whatever the connection, this exhibition celebrates the ongoing dance between the visual and the aural that is hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. 

Musical Responses:
The show includes a suite of miniature musical correspondences, one for each visual work, created by composer-pianist Michael Kowalski and percussionist-composer Allen Otte.  Kowalski and Otte explore the various ways that a musical composition can relate to a visual composition: as a gestural dialogue, as a thematic extension or development, as a compositional analogy, as a soundtrack, or as a spontaneous reaction. The results are often surprising, sometimes baffling, but always illuminating.  Unless specifically noted, all compositions and as well as performances are by Michael Kowalski or Allen Otte. 
TO LISTEN: press the Audio button under each artwork to open the corresponding music page.
VIEW FILES - Music Sketches and Percussion Photo Documentation

THE KENTLER FLATFILES are an essential element of Kentler International Drawing Space since its founding in 1990. A compendium of artworks by more than 290 local, national and international artists, this living archive represents the breadth, quality and variety found in contemporary drawings and works on paper today.  The Flatfiles are available for viewing by the public and have become an important resource for artists, collectors, curators and anyone interested in the field of drawing and prints. Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles are regularly presented in guest-curated exhibitions at Kentler and in traveling shows.


TRAVELING EXHIBITION

This show was first presented at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia - January 22 - March 20, 2021 and at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi - April 24 - August 22, 2021
Special thanks for support of this traveling exhibition: Kay Broda, Judye Harris, Janice Watson, the Bo Bartlett Center and the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum.

Kentler webpages for Traveling Shows:
Music as Image and Metaphor - Bo Bartlett Center 
Music as Image and Metaphor - Ohr'Okeefe Museum 


PRESS

• Colleen Phelps, "Do You Hear What I See," New Music USA

•  The first installation of “Music as Image and Metaphor” at the Bartlett Center formed the basis for MUSIC AND ART: A SEEING & LISTENING STUDY at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, during which test participants’ reactions to music with and without its paired image, versus their reactions to an image with and without its paired music, were evaluated.  Project coordinator Lauren Fink will be on hand for the panel discussion on March 11.


BIOS

David W. Houston is currently the Director of the Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Artist and Curator Florence Neal is Co-Founder (1990) and Director of Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, New York.

Composer-pianist Michael Kowalski and percussionist-composer Allen Otte have been collaborating on musical projects since the early 1970s.  In addition to his work as a soloist, teacher, and composer, Otte is a founding member of two of the most important multiple percussion groups in the United States, the Blackearth Percussion Group and The Percussion Group Cincinnati.  Kowalski was a pioneer in computer-assisted sound synthesis and algorithmic composition in the 1970s.  After years of composing primarily for percussion, dance, and electronics, he turned to theatre and chamber opera in the 1990s. Kowalski’s “Gringo Blaster,” commissioned and premiered by Otte and the Percussion Group Cincinnati, is available on an Einstein Records CD of the same name.

Exhibitions & Events are free and open to the public.
Gallery Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm