Notes from the chaos (2019) After Haydn’s The Representation of Chaos
Forming a discontiguous series, each of these (currently six) panels is envisaged as an individual note, each an integral, yet disconnected part of the whole. Musical gestures emerge suddenly, suspend and then dissolve into darkness without cadence or embellishment. Nascent, containing everything and yet without content. This is the paradoxical nothing and everything of Genesis - of all creation stories. A visual and musical paradox, the six (hoping eventually seven) panels are intended above all as a tribute to Haydn’s The Representation of Chaos, the incredible opening to his great oratorio The Creation – a work I have had the huge privilege to draw from in live rehearsal twice. On both occasions, I fell in love with the luminous darkness of Haydn’s overture which seems to reach beyond the scope of our understanding both back in time and forward to a future we are free to shape.
Notes from the Chaos, (panel II) oil on canvas, 140 x 150cm, 2019