‘Minim’ 2007
“Architecture is ‘frozen music’… the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ben Gilchrist creates both paintings and computer-generated animations. ‘Minim’, the image here, is uniquely something between the two – and created specially for this lightbox. It is a single graphic image taken from one of his animated videos, ‘Secession’. Gilchrist describes his abstract animated works as “moving paintings: I design them the same way I would design a painting, but using a computer instead of physical materials.” ‘Minim’ is, therefore, akin to a ‘digital painting’, a still image created on computer intended to be looked at like a painting.
In part, Gilchrist’s work has developed out of creating projected images to accompany music by his group ‘The Jellycastle Collective’. His abstract compositions reflect the rhythms which structure musical compositions. Gilchrist remarks, “my two main influences are music and architecture. Some of my paintings are influenced by the geometric shapes of buildings, and others are taken from parts of buildings seen at different angles. ‘Minim’ and ‘Secession’ were influenced by Glaswegian architect Charles Rennie Macintosh’s designs for stained glass windows. But it also takes inspiration from other artists, including Piet Mondrian’s grid patterns, and Brian Eno’s ambient musical and visual work. As the beat in a song holds the whole thing together, the black lines in my paintings hold the composition together. The bold colours relate to the feelings which electronic music inspires in me: pure, bold, happy. The artificial, man-made look of such colours echoes the computer-generated sounds of electronic music.”
