Opening reception:
Friday, November 5 | 7:30 pm
I am inspired and motivated to do this exhibition as a way to give back to the community that raised me and fostered my artistic training both musically and artistically. It is my hope that this art show will contribute to a better understanding of colour and design in abstract art , and how that relates to the way musical works are created .
The exhibition comprises a series of paintings that illustrate not only my unique colour theory but also how that theory can affect the various ideas of design, movement and time in abstract art. The style of these works is literally “tonal” (based on music principles) abstraction in a geometric format .The works are painted in acrylic or oil on canvas and are in horizontal or vertical format, either square or rectilinear.
Always the teacher, I would design the show as a teaching tool about my colour theory and abstract art generally.
Charles Burke Is active in both art and music. Mr. Burke has an A. R. C. T Diploma, and his music development has involved work on a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree from the University of Western Ontario , where he was also the conductor of the University of Western Ontario Concert Band.
As a professional clarinetist he studied with John Fetherston, Ezra Schabas, Robert Riseling, Yona Ettlinger, and finally with Avrahm Galper – for many years the Principal Clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has played in numerous chamber music concerts, has performed in orchestras both in Thunder Bay and in Peterborough where as Principal Clarinetist he was also on occasion featured as soloist with the orchestra .Currently he performs with the Durham Chamber Orchestra.
In his work as a music educator, he has developed and taught programmes for classrooms from junior kindergarten through secondary school to post-secondary education in Huntsville, Thunder Bay, Peterborough and at the University of Western Ontario where he also taught individual and class clarinet, as well as doing work with conducting and music education classes.
In art, he works in a variety of media and values the aesthetic and technical bonds between art and music. In addition to studying works in Canada and the United States, he has travelled as far abroad as Israel,France , Austria , Germany and Italy. He did classical art studies with Pauline Bradshaw – a student of John Angel who started the School of Realist Art in Toronto. He has studied Impressionism with Lois Griffel and John Kilroy at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has participated in group exhibitions where he has won awards for Best Oil and Best in Show. He has done solo, two- and three-person exhibitions. His art is included in corporate collections.
He is represented by the following galleries:
This exhibition is a presentation of my works based on my own unique colour/sound theory. It originated with an understanding as to why Einstein used C in his famous formula. This led to the development of a colour chart centred around the importance of yellow.
Further extensive research led to the realization that there was a correlation between the resulting colour system and the principles and progressions of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Each particular painting in the show is based on a specific colour key to show the colour harmonies of that particular key.
I do, however, incorporate various (structural) principles specific to visual art and would show how they correlate to the music principles. On a generic level there is a direct relationship between colour and sound: hue matches pitch, chroma matches volume on a quantitative level; value matches timbre, both can be bright or dark, warm or cool on a qualitative level; both have rhythm, metre, repetition, velocity, (as attention is given to the often-overlooked concept of time in art ).
Adherence to Bach’s principles and progressions ensures a harmonious, blended and balanced work of art. I seek to illustrate that in these works of art.