Portraits of Barry Cooper by Tim Gander

Eugene Ysäye his 6 violin virtuoso sonatas form the inspiration and basis of χάος (Chaos) by Barry Cooper. The violin pieces were written in the early 20 century for 6 virtuoso violin players. Barry Cooper has transformed each movement into a visual interpretation on large canvases. The result is a varied but very distinct new abstract body of work with sometimes figurative echoes.

Barry will paint and perform a live large painting continuing on the interpretation of Ysaye his violin sonatas during this exhibition.

A painter is someone whose brush is a little ahead of themselves.

These  6 violin sonatas by Eugéne Ysäye are extremely difficult to play and challenging for the listener; I am looking to reach beyond the visible, into the world of paint through the music, deep into the canvas layer by layer, brushstroke by brushstroke,  to an imagined fourth dimension: length, breadth, width and time.

The only certainty for me is the moment of the music and the spontaneity of the paint. Intrigued by the activities of the physicists at CERN, I am looking for the unexpected which can appear remotely far inside the fabric of the canvas or in some broad gesture on the surface.

I am habitually drawn to the painters, composers and writers who are inventors; they appear to step out of the universe of their discipline and into a world which cannot be fully grasped or understood in their own time.

The work often appears facile, discordant, incomprehensible; it remains compellingly just out of reach…

Listen to David Chandler interview Barry Cooper about this exhibition and body of work on Mixcloud.