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Music to Paint Space Art By

An inseparable relationship between space, art and music was forged when I was just a boy. Two albums I’d hear my father playing were Mike Oldfield’s groundbreaking début, Tubular Bells , from 1973, and Jean Michel Jarre’s 1977 breakthrough, Oxygène , which had the most profound effect on. Both albums are today regarded as pioneering masterworks and are still two of my all-time favourite albums that have since inspired my own music. Listen to either album today, and they still sound as unique and exciting as when they first appeared. On the living room wall at home hung a large print of a painting depicting an alien landscape. A huge star burned bright in the sky, casting long shadows on the mountainous landscape below, the scene caught in a perfect vignette of rocks. You could almost feel the heat emanating from out of the frame. The painting in question was Stellar Radiance by David A Hardy, but I would only find this out years later! With Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygène playing, I’d stare out through this portal into another world, fascinated by each element of the painting, eager to step into the scene and explore it. In addition to Stellar Radiance , we also had a book of space and science fiction art by various artists, entitled Space Wars, Worlds and Weapons . Each page was a source of never ending captivation. The sounds of Oxygène seemed to enhance this experience somehow; the bleeps, warbles and swirls of white noise perfectly matching the science fiction... Read More..