4’33”

Silence.

The beginning and the end. 

It is what music begins from and echoes into. 

White is what painting begins from and so I return it to its origin. 

But there is no such thing as silence as John Cage himself discovered when going into a special sound vacuum chamber. We cannot escape the sound of our breathing, our bodies, our heartbeat. 

This painting of 4’33” shows that there is no silence. Underneath all the white is all the colour, all the paint, all the music that went into the 99 paintings that proceeded it. 

It also symbolises, for me, what has happened to the music profession in the Covid Pandemic. 

The forced silencing of concerts, of music, of performers playing with each other is there in every white brushstroke. It was a whiteout of silence. All that was left was white noise.

This painting represents that agonising silence at the end of all those recorded concerts where applause should have been. But again it wasn’t silent … all those people were listening and applauding in their own way behind the silence. 

Silence has the echo of music. Silence is not silent. Music did not and will never, fall silent. 

There is no such thing as silence in music … or absence in art. 

Music and Art have prevailed and will continue to do so.