The most commonly
asked questions about abstract paintings are about the artist’s inspiration or motivation, while some viewers
often admit to not understanding the genre at all. Shirley Elias and Alexus, two artists based in Winnipeg,
paint very different abstract forms but share a common inspiration, music.
The love and pursuit of music is deeply engrained in both artists. Elias had a distinguished career as a
concert pianist before taking up painting. Her abstract paintings are bold and often illustrate musical notes
and the instruments that create them. Similarly, Alexus studied music for more than 25 years in Europe and
painted realism before he discovered a talent for musically inspired abstract paintings.
For example, Elias’
painting “Moonlight” was inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The painting illustrates Lake
Lucerne, where the piece was written, juxtaposed with a destructed piano to represent the troubled state of
the composer.
Elias draws the painting
on the canvas and solves the entire puzzle before she starts to paint. She creates a distance from her work
that she attributes to her piano career, where everything went into the performance and nothing remained once
the final notes were played.
As for Alexus, he has
commissioned musicians to write music and then perform it while he paints. He has a 4,000 sq. ft. studio
separate from his dwelling, with a grand piano and room for musicians.
Some of his other works are performance pieces developed over a very short timeframe. Many of his artistic
creations come from a familiarity with the music that just spontaneously inspires a variety of paintings and
treatments. •
Duetto, a joint
exhibit of paintings by Shirley Elias and Alexus, ran in October and November 2009 at the Art Beat Gallery in
St. Albert, Alta., and the Birchwood Gallery in Winnipeg.
