The Beating Art

7. The Beating Art

Detroit & Remote — Present Day

One of my goals in returning to music production was to bring back the challenge and enjoyment I had shaping audio for film, television, live events, and corporate storytelling. I wondered, with today's technology, what would that collaboration feel like?

Last year, that opportunity arrived through a collaboration with Robert Schefman, a Detroit-based visual artist whose work includes a painting selected for the Smithsonian’s The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today exhibit. I could try to describe Robert’s work and why it resonates with me, but visual art deserves to be seen without translation. I encourage you to visit his website and cultivate your own point of view.

I asked Robert if he might allow me to compose original musical scores for several paintings that were to be featured yesterday's opening at the David Klein Gallery, near Detroit., Generously, he agreed. We spoke at length about the series—its overarching themes, how each piece related to the others, and the intentional details embedded in every canvas.

A painting captures a moment in time. Music, by nature, unfolds across time. The first of my many creative decisions was whether the score should tell the longer story surrounding the image or live entirely inside the frozen moment the viewer sees.

As the gallery date approached, Robert and I reviewed the compositions. His feedback lead to changes and the application of some secret music dust that won the artist's final approval.

For perspective: The average museum visitor spends somewhere between 15 and 35 seconds looking at a painting. My hope was that music might gently persuade someone to stay longer. To look deeper. To feel more. To let the moment breathe.

Click here to listen to all three compositions. (Each piece is under two minutes.)