Kinga Ogiegło

How Music Inspires Art- A Short Analysis Of My Artworks

Music can inspire the colors and the title of an artwork but can also influence organic shapes and textures that emerge while painting as well as be crucial to many stages of creation that proceed going to the studio. I always listen to music when creating paintings. From the very beginning my go -to soundtrack was any song by Kendji Girac- but in particular a song called Andalouse. There is something in this singer's voice vibration that goes straight to my heart and every time I paint I get this feeling of being transported into another dimension, like a fog, sort of indefinable commotion in the air. For me, Kylie Minogue also worked well- her album Body Language and  songs from other albums such as Fever or In Your Eyes.

In 2017, I created a series of small works on canvas listening to her songs and naturally I was reaching to colors such as pink, black, yellow, and strangely, organic shapes that emerged were faces and people figures which never happened before.  Below are example artworks from the left- Lucky Day, details- Holidays, Madness- all 50x50cm acrylic on canvas. However, music can also hinder creating artwork. One time, I was commissioned to create an A1 painting on canvas, and the client's favorite singer was Kanye West- so I thought, great, I will listen to my favourite Kanye's song- Stronger while creating this artwork and the effect will be stunning and the whole process fun and easy. Little did I know how wrong I was- yes, the colors were directly influenced by Kanye's album cover but when I played the music I started getting into an unexpected creating block and was doubting if I could even finish this artwork at all. So before plunging into more self-doubt and in prevention from the inevitable disaster, I decided to play a good old Kendji’s song and successfully finished this commission.

As far as stages of creation proceeding going to the studio I think they are as important as the creating itself. For many abstract artists creating is quite a short process, however the energy expenditure is very high. And how good and effective the process of creating will be depends directly on the quality of your energy throughout your everyday life therefore looking after your soul. From my personal perspective, it the things that you do before the actual grabbing the brush and paint that make my art- things such as putting yourself into a good emotional state, any spiritual work that you do, basic self-care on every day basis and surrounding yourself with positive people and beautiful, inspiring spaces. And listening to music is one of those things- it is undoubtedly good for your soul. Personally, usually listen to one song over and over again in order to squeeze as much emotion out of it and process it all in my brain and discard it when I don’t need it anymore. Sometimes I will sing it, learn the lyrics and maybe record a cover of it. My current obsession/healing tool is the Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic! At The Disco, a story about a desperate man trying please a woman. For me, the reflective sounds of this song bring out emotions of sadness, oscillating between memories of my past codependent behaviors, melancholy, and anger on what has been toxic in my life. I believe that every time that your process your negative emotions and make yourself feel them you heal your body and mind. Remembering the trauma, sensing it in your body will then give you more strenght, knowledge about the Self, more creativity, and the feeling of ‘katharsis’. Here is an example of my work from 2015 (on the left)- a time when I just left an abusive work environment, feeling angry and useless, and a recent painting from 2019, a time when I am happy person, having healed my codependent addiction. Compared to the first painting, the color palette as well as the style are very different, the positive emotions visibly translate on canvas.

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