RSA Scottish Art
Nocturne
 | Artist: Alex Campbell |
| Title: Nocturne | |
| Year: c. 1986 - 87 | |
| Medium: oil on board | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist | |
| Description: Alex Campbell's paintings are contemplative landscapes and still lives which sometimes play visual games. A nocturne is a piece of music which is suggestive of the night. Campbell's painting Nocturne is a still life arrangement of musical instruments. The shapes and outlines of the instruments create a regular rhythm across the canvas. Behind the instruments lies the outline of a dark mass, possibly a skyline with buildings or a group of people. It almost seems that the instruments (cellos, violins or double basses) are waiting in the wings before going onstage. We can see both front and back of the outer instruments, emphasising the sense of the objects dancing or floating through the air. The dusky colours and the implied movement create a sense of excitement in the air as though the evening is about to begin. The composition of this piece is almost symmetrical. The large bass in the centre is subtly coloured and almost disappears into the background but because of its scale, enjoys the greatest importance in the painting. The execution is painterly and well-textured. Some of the paint has been applied in layers and scraped back and the palette carries a lot of warmth from the oranges and browns of the wooden instruments. Could this be a dream painting? Or is it a symbolic way of imagining what music looks like? Have you ever tried to visualise music? Some people experience a condition called synaesthesia, in which music is experienced as colours and shapes | |
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