PUBLICATION
05/2024
A publication inspired by the 2017 thriller movie ‘Good Time’ directed by Benny and Josh Safdie.
The initial concept behind the painting of each song was to visually display the way music makes me feel: listen to Good Time and spray paint. Could I procure synesthesia like Wassily Kandinsky? I was illustrating the length of the beat, its rhythm, the amount of sounds I heard, the way some sounds were sudden and others drawn out. So, the first few paintings of this project were literal depictions of each song in the form of its measurable constituent elements as opposed to my less-quantifiable spiritual experience of it. An approach with an unnecessary, self-imposed form of control which I adopted to ensure that each painted outcome had logic, had value, regardless of whether it actually looked good or not. However, there was a change in approach when I decided to give into what I thought was more visually striking by painting the image or scene that had conjured within my head upon hearing each song. I started illustrating the soundtrack in reference to my emotions, its specific references to the movie and my self-interpretation of its message. To visually display Good Time, I went from trying to paint methodologically to completely surrendering myself to whatever came to mind and whatever I had at hand. I had limited paint, limited colours, novice spray painting capabilities and, in the end, a lack of expectation. You can’t control what you can’t control and to move forward is by accepting that, a topic which closely relates to protagonist Connie’s story in the film Good Time (2017).