His name is GRONK. He is a magical madman. GRONK the magical madman likes to paint music. Well, sort of. He is actually a very nice man and a visual artist who enjoys using his paintbrush as an instrument.
GRONK is visiting UNM from Los Angeles because he and composer Joseph Julian Gonzalez have recently collaborated on a visual/musical piece called "Tormenta Cantada." Gonzalez composed the music that includes the sound of brushstrokes made by GRONK while he painted to the score. The brush itself had a microphone attached so it could be heard through a series of cues in the piece.
"It was like long brushstrokes compared to a violin playing a short staccato," Gonzalez said. "It's utilizing technology, giving a human element to the computer."
In doing this kind of art, GRONK and Gonzalez ask the question of how one adds something to music. Their answer to this is by physically adding color to it and thereby creating new and different emotion.
"I am pushing the boundaries of what I do already," GRONK said. "A living culture is always experementing and trying new things and a dead culture stays the same. I'd rather be part of a living culture."
With the use of his technologically advanced visual art, GRONK is taking part in the Artists- In-Residence Program "Cultural Practice/ Virtual Style: Creating an Arts Environment in High Performance Computing."
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For the showcase, GRONK will be contributing an animation much like "Tormenta Cantada" that will later be translated to the LodeStar Astronomy Center's digital-domed theatre.
A variety of artists, like GRONK, have used technology to create new forms of art combining multimedia,visual art, music and computer science. They will showcase their projects at a workshop at UNM's Arts Technology Center.
Jack Ox and David Britton will present "The 21st Century Virtual Color Organ," a computational system for translating musical compsitions into visual performance.
Warren Sack and Sawad Brooks' project "Translation Map" examines the process of creating a global community on the Internet through collaborative translation of public massages.
Gail Wight is working on a short piece for the LodeStar Astronomy Center that uses bacteria as a lens to examine contemporary ideas about evolution.
Jim Crutchfield and David Dunn's project "The Theatre of Pattern Formation" is a variety of mathematically driven visualizations based on the complexity theory. They help build an understanding of fundamental principles of natural pattern formation using video and audio feedback techniques.
These events will take place Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
