In my first high school art class at 11 years old, my teacher handed us all a piece of paper, a pastel, and put on some classical music. “Draw what you hear,” she said. A simple yet simultaneously puzzling task; one which exemplifies how inherently intertwined art and music are.
This interconnection is often explored in art installations, such as in the exhibition We Will Sing created by Anne Hamilton for the unique roof space of the Yorkshire shop and gallery Salts Mill. This installation blended textiles, printed works, spoken word, and music in a grand, unique, and arguably haunting artistic experience.
But the interaction of art and music isn’t confined to just art galleries – album covers are another perfect example of this intersection. As a society, we often treat album covers as works of art, displaying them as posters or t-shirts, but sometimes we don’t appreciate quite how much artistic
work goes into these covers.
Take Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream album cover, for example. This iconic cover is actually a painting by the artist Will Cotton, whose 2004 series of paintings Cotton Candy Clouds attracted the attention of Katy Perry, who Cotton then invited to model for her own painting. When so much art nowadays is digitally created, its worth appreciating the texture and depth that the physical brushstrokes bring to this artwork.
The intersection of music and art exemplifies a wider mixed media collaboration that exists within the world of art. Think of dance, for example, where visual performance arts meet music. Or think of examples like Hozier’s album Unreal Unearth, where literature and art meet music. Altogether, these examples show how art continually informs and interacts with other creative mediums to weave a rich tapestry of creativity and self-expression.
“Musical Notes” by mikecogh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.