Don't you wonder sometimes
About sound and vision?
So begins the 1977 David Bowie song that lends its title to Hecho a Mano’s upcoming show, which will bring together the work of 30 artists from across the U.S., Mexico and England to explore the blending of artistic mediums.
The show is curated by cinematographer, editor and artist Martha Traer, who has long been captivated by the relationship between audio and visual mediums. “I was obsessed with music videos as a kid and this is my way of nodding to that,” Traer says. “I loved to see the way that music was translated into a visual art form.”
“When I ride my bike, go for walks, take long car rides across the country or fly in a plane, music plays a huge part in sculpting the experience I have,” she says. “Visual art does the same thing as music, but from a stationary point of view, both hold the power to move you.” For this show, each artist was asked to choose a song and create an 11 x 14-inch piece of work inspired by the music. With artists working in a wide variety of media and styles, Sound and Vision is a kaleidoscope of memory embedded in music.
One of the show’s artists is Tony Calzaretta, for whom music has always been a lodestar. The song he chose to inspire his piece in the show is “Changes” by Charles Bradley, a 2016 cover of the original 1972 Black Sabbath song reimagined as a heart-aching soul ballad about the loss of someone deeply loved. For Calzaretta, “Changes” unlocks memories of his best friend, Rob Campbell, who passed away in 2020 after a 20 year on and off battle with cancer. Calzaretta’s piece is formed from a patchwork of wooden blocks containing lyrics of the song, as well as symbols of memories of his friend. “I chose a deep wood block to create a hand painted, screen printed, collaged piece on to honor his dreams of one day of being healthy, slowing down work and having a big wood working studio on some acres of land that he had purchased a year prior to his passing,” the artist says. His piece will appear under the name “High Desert Broadcast Service,” the art and design studio he runs with his wife, Amy Calzaretta, in Lamy, NM. Amy Calzaretta’s work will also appear in the show.
British illustrator Faye Moorhouse is known for painting worlds inhabited by strange people, violent beasts and other grotesqueries, but she has recently been drawn to painting birds. When she was invited to create a piece for Sound and Vision, she knew immediately that her piece would be based on the Australian nursery rhyme “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,” a song she has loved since she was young. “Even now I will still sing it, usually in times of sheer sensory overwhelm when looking after my young children—it instantly calms me,” she says.
Interdisciplinary artist Kat Kinnick chose a piece of music by Albuquerque-based musician Heather Trost, from her album featuring gavottes by composers from J.S. Bach to Jean-Phillipe Rameau, and one original composition by Trost, all recorded on electronic keyboard instruments. “For some reason my mind just goes to the Cloisters when I hear this album, even though the Medieval ages is an earlier time period,” Kinnick says. Her painting evokes a similar mood, showing a stone horse with bat wings standing over a dragon against a velvety background. “I often find that music draws out imagery of textures, crafts, time periods and things that I love,” Kinnick says. “It helps me visualize my subconscious.
The work of these 30 artists shows how music can shape experience and become a portal to memory. As Traer says, “Art and music can transplant us in a different time and space and give us a new perspective—for this show I am just making the music as important as what is on the wall.”
The Playlist!