Synesthesia: Art of the Senses

Synesthesia can be thought of as a natural metaphor of the body where when one sense is stimulated it causes another sense to respond as well. For me, I see color with sound, and have all of my life. It was not until I lost my sight though that these colors took on special significance, and that I noticed that touch and taste also generated colors and shapes. Before, when I was sighted, most of this imagery was lost in the noise of information that was being supplied by my eyes causing me to miss out on this very subtle visual poetry. While this is an innate ability I have taken pains to hone this facility in the same way that a musician would train his ear or an athlete would condition his muscles.

The different notes and tones being played produce shapes and colors of an incredible intensity. While colors differ for each note played, they also vary with how the notes are played. An old blues rhythm played low and slow will look very different than when the same notes are played in early Rock N’ Roll songs for example – compare this to sheet music where the difference is very subtle. This is why with every painting that I do where the palette is influenced by the music the recording or live performance is specifically cited. Some of the paintings show the music note for note, while others show the overall impact of the composition.

I am constantly searching for music that is significant to me the same way junk artists will look for curious bits and pieces that have been discarded by society. When I find the music that depicts visually what I want to say I take it and use it as raw material for a painting, combining it with shape and structure to build an overall message.

A song resonates more than just through sound; its affect ripples through our senses and through our experiences (the culmination of past sensorial events and our reaction to them). Our experience grows and branches like some great bramble whose tangle is our ever ongoing hunger to comprehend.
In the way that lyrics and poetry can help us understand one concept by comparing it to another, our senses can to lend themselves to one another giving us a fuller perception of the world around us. The wind blowing through the leaves has the most wonderful rich colors that melt together like paint running on a palette, the color of the sound of a butterflies wings is brighter than you might think. Life is rich and unexpected, just when we think we understand it something new comes by and opens your eyes.

Imagine being able to take a work of music and remove it from time and space. To see at a moment’s glance the entirety of the piece all at once – not a raucous riot of noise, but each individual note in its own perfect singularity of sound all distinct and yet ringing at once. Or, to stretch a note out for as long as you want and be able to compare it, while its energy never wanes, to any other note. To have the power to see each part of the song so that similarities and differences can be observed and understood. Most importantly though, for the music to retain the power and vivacity of the work; unlike the dead pages of sheet music which is merely the written record of a musical event and not the event itself. Viewing music from four dimensions; to see music breathe and live and to comprehend it in ways that have never been possible before. This is what synesthesia offers.

John Bramblitt (2008)