Zadie Xa What Does a Painting Sound Like?
By Debika Ray
It has been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, a maxim variously attributed to Elvis Costello, Thelonius Monk, and Laurie Anderson, among others. So what does it mean to sing a song about a painting, or compose a score for a sculpture? Several recent and current exhibitions pose this question, as artists working with image and sound create gallery environments that engage the senses far beyond the visual alone.
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Many artists today are increasingly leaning into similar collaborations with musicians as an extension of their practice. Two of this year’s Turner Prize nominees have chosen to incorporate music into their prize presentations at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford. A lively soundtrack of indistinct voices and snippets of Northern Soul, Ska, and 2 Tone tracks accompanies the photographs and sculptural installation of Rene Matić, while Zadie Xa’s fantastical paintings are animated by instrumental music inspired by Korean shamanic rhythms. ‘I use sound and music to create intimate, inward spaces that operate as explorations into my dreams or inner monologues that I can’t translate through other mediums,’ says Xa. ‘Sound also allows me to weave in historical references and connect my practice to other artists and folk movements.’
