Tim Bavington Physical S.E.X. 2005

  • Not on view

Bavington interprets rock-and-roll guitar solos by translating the sounds, beats, and rhythms of individual tracks into paint. Having elaborated his own twelve-hue color chart, he assigns a particular color to each note, and the width of each painted band corresponds to the notes length. Black is used for pauses; it echoes the color of audio speakers and the look of obsolete "boom boxes." In this work the artist has rendered in visual terms a guitar solo from the song "Physical S.E.X.," by the contemporary British band Darkness. "Each part of the composition is presented in a specific order with a specific duration to a passive listener," Bavington notes of his painting. He invites viewers to "begin at different points, to scan and meander across the canvas, creating our own chronology."

Gallery label from Out of Time: A Contemporary View, August 30, 2006–April 9, 2007.
Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, three panels
Dimensions
6' x 13' 5" (182.9 x 408.9 cm)
Credit
Fractional and promised gift of Michael Lynne
Object number
969.2005.a-c
Copyright
© 2024 Tim Bavington
Department
Painting and Sculpture
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