Abstract Rock and Psychedelic Painting

“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes… Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas.”
Arshile Gorky

“There is a time where you’re beyond yourself, better than your technique, better than your usual ideas.”  Dave Brubeck

Rock guitar lore renowns Jimi Hendrix as one of the great improvisational soloists in a live context. Although untrained in technique, Hendrix’s love of the instrument led him to develop a consistent and recognizable style, mixing a blues sensibility with an electrified, hard rock sound.

Most notable about Hendrix, perhaps, was his energetic live performance. During his live shows, Hendrix would perform unprecedented feats of spectacle, such as, playing his instrument behind his back, lighting his guitar on fire, or even finishing solos by strumming with his teeth. These antics never interfered with or compromised the distinct psychedelic quality of sound which made him famous.

Hendrix’s live performances are noteworthy not only for their spontaneity, but also for their cultural resonance and legacy. His music re-interpreted classical performance tropes of spoken word poetry, soulful blues, and improvisational jazz, culminating in a psychedelic experience unparalleled by Rock and Roll peers of the time.

Psychedelic Rock re-interprets traditional harmonic melodies with electronic distortion and amp feedback which catapult sound waves to unpredictable frequencies. Much like abstract painting broke apart traditional painterly form into a symposium of color and form, reinterpreting the process by which the medium affected audiences.

Psychedelic music and Abstract painting parallel one another in their desire to transcend the limits of their respective mediums by questioning the basic function of their constituent mechanisms of expression.