Voice

You got a sweet voice, child,

Why don't you use it?

Kevin Morby

What is the voice?

Aneta asked me to do an abstract work on the subject of "voice", using anything I want to, any paints, tools, materials, now, not sticking to forms, objects, people or shapes. Or anything I know.

Bez figuracji :)

Whatever that means.

So here am I in front of my sketchbook. - Голос, - I say out loud. Are English "voice" and Russian "голос" the same?

The sound different. My voice sounds different when I speak it out loud in different languages.

So what is voice?

I tried to think and speak my thoughts out loud as pastels were touching the paper.

White background. White noise. Voice is noise. Makes sense - sounds different.

Without noise, there is no voice. Voice is the noise I produce - the moment I am born.

Terracota pastel. Color of dirt. Color of steamed and dried blood. Colour of womb. Colour of what I see when I close my eyes.

Voices in my head.

Rounded reddish smth looks too stuctured. "Za dużo figuracji, Aneta will point this out to me, I am sure". So I take a dirty brush still carrying traces of voice.vol.1 drawing and blur it.

Soften your voice. The softer you go, the more they listen. Soft speak. Soothing sound. There is only one way to soothe my soul. What's the most soothing color?

Blue. Turquise bright blue, almost imossible to come by in nature, but sometimes seen in waves, skies and wild flower that carry it. Butterflies. Even those bullets with butterfies wings.

Just a hint of it. Little droplets of turquiose blue to add softness and contrast terracota. Add weakness to the voice. Make it disappear a little, but you cannot really silence it, can you?

Stop the voices in your head. Make the silences speak. I need silence. I need to show this "in-between"silences state of voice.

Leave some space for the void.

. I miss your voice

How would different people's voices look like? Does an old voice have a rusty metal porch glitter, and a baby voice vibrant, warm palette? Would it make a difference if it belongs to a male, female or... animal? Beta's meows would echo in my head even when I was 500 km away, in the mountains.

Can we pick up a color for each pitch of sound? Or rather, do colors have their pitch? Like red seems more major, while blue, perhaps, sounds C minor-ish. With white noise in between.

Specks of canary yellow. Probably, the color has a different name, but I like to think of it as canary yellow. It makes me think of Rambo, the only canary I met and got to know. Rambo, that (used to) live in a tiny studio on the ground floor in Ghent, where his owner, Safi, would draw and design interiors, and then design and make tattoos, while listening to music, dancing and singing. And Rambo would sing along.

Joy. Canaries have a joyful voice. Such tiny bird capable of producing so high-pitch loud joyful voice. I want that on my drawing. Chirpy-chi-chirp-chiiiiiii...

Finally, I am back to my first convention. Waves. Voice is a sound wave, and I want all these colors flowing and dancing with each other like waves do. With little sun sparkles on their foamy tops. A beautiful voice is like sea - you can listen to it forever, just like mesmerising sea waves takes you into a state of trance, with no past or future. Only now.

Voice is now. It's gone the moment you stop talking. And, the silence shows more voices. Everything that goes around in between. In the middle. Between the lines.

And here is mine: