A painter paints pictures on canvas, musicians paint on silence; same difference. 

Frances Keevil Gallery 28-34 Cross Street  Double Bay NSW 2025 (02) 9327 2475

A- I've got a girl with a record machine                                        D When it comes to rockin, she's a queen                                      A We love to dance on a Saturday night                                                              All alone where I can hold her tight     E7                             But she lives on 20th floor uptown         A And the elevator has broken down  --------------------------------------------------------  During the verses the riff goes like this:      A                       D           A E7          A e|-----------------------------------------------------| B|-----------------------------------------------------| G|-----------------------------------------------------| D|---------------------------3-4---3-4-----5-6---5-6---| A|---3-4---3-4---3-4---3-4-5-----5-------7-----7-------| E|-5-----5-----5-----5-----------------5-------------5-|  --------------------------------------------------------       A So I walk one, two flight, three flight, four                                            D Five, six, seven flight, eight flight more                                At 12th I'm startin' to sag A 15th floor I'm ready to drag E7             D                A Get to the top, I'm too tired to rock  --------------------------------------------------------  The chorus (above) is played with these power chords:  A =  A5 - 57XXXX D =  D5 - X57XXX E7 = E5 - X79XXX  --------------------------------------------------------  She called me up on the telephone Said: "Come over, baby. I'm all alone." I said: "Sorry, baby. You're mighty sweet, but I'm in bed achin' feet." This went for a couple of days But I could not stay away  ---------------------------------------------------------  So I walk one, two flight, three flight, four Five, six, seven flight, eight flight more At 12th I'm startin' to sag 15th floor I'm ready to drag Get to te top, I'm too tired to rock  ---------------------------------------------------------  A A A A D D A A E7 D A A  ---------------------------------------------------------  They sent it to Chicago for repairs 'Til it's fixed I'm usin' the stairs I have to get there before it's to late My baby couldn't bear much to wait All this climbin' is gettein' me down You'll find my corps draped over a rail  ---------------------------------------------------------   

20 Flight Rock by Stephen Coburn Inspired by Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock," originally performed by Eddie Cochran in Frank Tashlin's film comedy "THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT" (1956), and released as a single in 1957. "Stephen’s noise and Stephen’s silence are all summed up in his most recent work  that features in ACOUSTOOPTICALDINORATORIO. He has taken a great Eddie Cochrane classic “Twenty Flight Rock” as his 30 second musical soliloquy. This is a piece that sums up the frustration of expectation and inevitable failure of blighted love and his painting is a literal translation of the words of the song. Here we find the steps, then there is the shadow, but where is the destination? Stephen has chosen to make it even less attainable by placing the girl, dancing to her music on the record machine, outside of the frame, out of reach. The era of caged Go Go dancers returns and the object of desire is out of reach, a sad little tragedy that is reminiscent of the final section of the three girls on Sandymount Strand in James Joyce’s Ulysses, where Leopold Bloom has lascivious thoughts and Gerty MacDowell limps away. The last line in the song laments …”You’ll find my corpse draped over the rail”. When this piece of music joins the other thirty solos, there will be pandemonium and Stephen’s tale will join a two minute cacophony, but this image will remain as a tribute to unrequited love as well as Eddie Cochrane." - curator: Nick Vickers

ACOUSTOOPTICALDINORATORIO is the inspiration of the Irish artist, Alan Healy who states… "In keeping with our duty as artists to change the inherent form and destiny of any matter we use to express ourselves... in my work, I try to elaborate on parts and sensations of this experience; that is, to bring attention to the materiality of James Joyce’s work and perhaps reveal something of the alchemy that he alone understood."

ACOUSTOOPTICALDINORATORIO is an exploration of sound and vision set against the backdrop of James Joyce’s monumental literary work Finnegans Wake.

So what is ACOUSTOOPTICALDINORATORIO? If we break down the title, the music is the ACOUSTO, the OPTICAL are the canvases, the DIN is the cacophony when all of the musicians play their own pieces of music simultaneously and the ORATORIO is the chatter afterwards.

The performance and exhibition features the musical and visual works of around 40 artists. Each artist will play 30 seconds of music, until all have played. This section will be followed by 2 minutes where all the artists play their own piece simultaneously sounded in by the timekeeper. At this time various others join in, conductors, ballet dancers, viewers with movie cameras, and more.

So how will it all sound?  Nobody knows yet.  How will it look?  The artists with musical instruments will be seated in a spiral facing out. The vocalists will form an inner circle facing out. There will be four conductors, at the north, south, east and west aspects of the circle.  They will wear earphones and conduct whatever they are listening to and there will be canvases by all of those participating on display in the Frances Keevil Gallery, Double Bay.

As a participating artist and musician, Stephen will have a dual role. He was given a canvas in late January so that he could produce an artwork for the exhibition in the Frances Keevil Gallery that will coincide with the performance. He has produced an artwork that relates to and holds the title of the piece that he intends to play. Your second role will be to play that piece of music first for 30 seconds and then for 2 minutes.

One of the many pleasures of Finnegans Wake is that it still remains poetry and chaos, rather than something analysed and known to be safe, this event and exhibition, with its associations of the visual and the associations of sound may be as meaningful as it may seem meaningless; this remains to be seen and hear this work we listen, participate and wait.

Gallery will install works Tuesday 28^th February

Exhibition Launch Friday 2^nd March  6 – 8pm

Performance Sunday 4^th March 2.00 – 4.00pm

Exhibition hours 10.00 -5.00pm Monday – Friday, Saturday 10.00 – 4.00, Sunday 11.00 – 4.00

Exhibition Dates Saturday 29^th February – 7^th March

Proudly supported by ARTnews.com.au.