Fort Wayne artist Michael Rhoades provides a visual and audible experience by combining art, music and video in a unique way.
Rhoades will display his current installation, “The Voice in the Forest,” this Saturday and Sunday during one of the many events of the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival.
The exhibit at the Lotus Gallery, 1302 Lafayette St., will include 13 oil paintings of abstract forest scenes which are 60-inch-by-48-inch, and which will be accompanied by computer-generated music and videos of corresponding forest sounds, morphing into compositions and then back again. He said there are 10 compositions, which creates a 71-minute recording.
“The exhibit is meant to be a juxtaposition of ordinary consciousness and a heightened sense of awareness,” Rhoades said. “It is meant to create an environment conducive to creating a higher level of consciousness. My hope is to provide a unique experience.”
To create his music and videos, Rhoades works with a medium known as Electroacoustic Music. He uses a computer program that will compose the sounds he wants within the constraints he dictates. He then combines those sounds with three synthesized ones that complement them. Rhoades creates digital artwork and edits photography as well.
Rhoades said he was inspired by a high school teacher who taught electronic music classes., has been composing since the '70s. He also has been involved actively in electroacoustic music, from composing to speaking on this topic worldwide. Rhoades said the painting aspect of his artistry has developed within the last five years.
Rhoades has additional ideas and projects in the works, including composing new CDs.
This is Rhoades first year in the Three Rivers Festival, even though he has attended almost every year. He will have paintings, CDs and DVDs available to purchase.
Rhoades has also shown his work at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Sweetwater Sound, Huntington University's Merillat Center for the Arts and at SEAMUS 2009, an international conference for Electroacoustic music.
Rhoades likes seeing the Three Rivers Festival representing the arts.
“I enjoy seeing so many people getting together and enjoying each other and the festival,” Rhoades said. “It is a great way to leave your worries behind and cherish life. It is so short!”
