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Watermelon man
1997-2002ish Acrylic and What Hi-Fi Magazine on hardboard 30ish cm by maybe 4m OK, so this is supposed to be the way I hear Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock: the funky "Headhunters" album version. The next few posts will be details from this painting. It's a triptych with each of the three panels representing a different stage in the tune, and the animals different instruments. There is some left to right chronology, but this is not strict within each panel. I thought when I started it that the music was somehow orange and blue, but I've since noticed that the album sleeve is these colours, so maybe I'm just easily led. These paintings came out of a period of experimenting with painting images back into random, chaotic patterns. It was my second attempt to paint the sound of a piece of music, after Fools Gold, by the Stone Roses. This time tried less hard to literally follow the tune. As a result it is freer and simpler and I feel it has more successfully captured the feeling of the music. Hopefully, when I paint another tune then I may get it right.
Published 14 Aug 2020