Symphonic Poem in Blue and Gold
These paintings extend the abstract expressionist tradition. Non-narrative in format, the paintings are windows onto the biological soul and are reflections of a moment in time ~ they are not meant to be referential, they are not meant to be sentimental; they are meant to be held in quiet contemplation just as if one were sitting at a symphonic concert or in deep mediation. Thus, is the universe of these paintings.
Symphonic Poem in Blue and Gold challenges the traditional concepts of boundary and orientation in painting in several ways. The two canvases of the diptych are not joined; each is meant to be framed and hung separately. The placement of the components of the painting is contingent on the inherent qualities of the site where it is hung.
The execution of the paintings are a collaboration between artist and medium interacting with the laws of chance and physics. This artwork reveals the hand of many forces from the painter, to the fates and gravity, to the curator, and ultimately, the viewer. It co-exists with the site in which it is placed and, hopefully, the company it keeps…
These paintings relate to the architectural aspect of music, the structure and complexity of classical forms of music and, quite possibly, the architecture that music fills. Their poetry describes a musical construction of two movements, each of which carries motifs of the other. In one sense, it builds to a crescendo; in another, it deconstructs itself to a simple, lyrical beauty; a loud movement and a soft movement, in whichever order it is experienced.
The blue, black, and metallic gold colors describe music as electricity in the void of space; a spark of creativity in the depth of the soul. The painting crackles with life, with excitement, even on the more sedate side of the diptych ~ quite possibly more so on the quieter side of the diptych as the tension of its structure seems so biological, so full of the potential for life…
Roy Anthony Shabla
Latex and metallic powder on primed canvas
Each canvas 6’ x 5’