Brian Eno may be best known as an influential musician and record producer associated with classic tracks by Roxy Music, U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode and Coldplay, but Thursday afternoon it was Eno the visual artist who addressed his work 77 Million Paintings which debuted at the YMI Cultural Center as part of the Moogfest weekend celebration of electronic music.
“English art schools are much more successful at producing musicians than painters,” Eno said jokingly to a room full of national journalists who viewed the installation. “I really like art when it’s magic. I don’t like it when it’s clever.”
Before becoming one of the innovating forces behind ambient music, Eno studied art at Colchester Institute in Essex and it was during a walk through the fashionable area of Knotting Hill that he was inspired to create a constantly evolving sound and image collage. It’s made from four computer screens randomly choosing images from three computers and fading those pictures into one another. While the images are mixing, six CD players randomly play selections from different discs on random repeat.
“It started out as 77 million paintings, but I’ve added to it since then,” Eno explained. “Now the figure is more like 100 million, which is a very large number. You will never see the same thing twice. It just keeps running. What you saw today you will not see tomorrow. And what you see tomorrow will never be seen again.”
As the work has no narrative and no defined progression, Eno further elaborated that he hoped his exhibition would encourage the viewer to slow down and enter a more contemplative state to reflect on the uniqueness of each passing moment in their lives.
“If you offer something people like enough, their attention span is infinite,” he said. “I showed this to one of my college art professors and he said ‘I can’t understand why it keeps changing.’ I said, ‘That’s the point.’”
If you want to know more about 77 Million Paintings, Eno will be discussing it as a separately ticketed Moogfest event Saturday, Oct. 29 at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium starting at 2 p.m. Full details are available here.
–story and photo by White Lightnin’
1 Comment
Was he dining at Plant tonight with a large group? If it wasn't him, it was someone who looks a whole lot like him. As a side note, their new apple-cranberry pie is delicious.