{"id":5832,"date":"2011-06-15T11:14:18","date_gmt":"2011-06-15T15:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=5832"},"modified":"2011-07-07T10:14:22","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T14:14:22","slug":"wright-state-student-sees-sound-paints-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2011\/06\/15\/wright-state-student-sees-sound-paints-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State student sees sound, paints music"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Anthony Powers of a bird flying and the sounds of its wings flapping.<\/p><\/div>\n

The number one is orange. The letter \u201cP\u201d tastes like fish and chips. Electric guitars look like pouring Kool-Aid. Welcome to the world of synesthesia, a rare neurological condition that takes everything we know about the senses and turns it on its head.<\/p>\n

Wright State University student Anthony Powers, a synesthete and an artist, is on a mission to make this uncommon experience available to a wider audience. Powers\u2019 synesthesia-centric art show, \u201cWhy Are the Walls Screaming?\u201d opens this Friday at the Yellow Springs Arts Council Gallery.<\/p>\n

In neurological terms, synesthesia is defined as a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality. For instance, Powers\u2019 synesthesia takes the form of sound-to-color synesthesia. When he hears a sound, it is accompanied by an image.<\/p>\n

The synesthetic art that Powers has produced for his show is a riot of undulating lines, jagged stripes and bursts of color, but \u201cit\u2019s not abstract art,\u201d he stresses. \u201cIt\u2019s not abstract, or expressive or non-representational art. It is as close as I can get to a visual representation of things that I actually see when I actually hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Anthony Powers: Powers\u2019 synesthesia-centric art show, \u201cWhy Are the Walls Screaming?\u201d opens this Friday at the Yellow Springs Arts Council Gallery.<\/p><\/div>\n

Abstract art has always been confusing and sometimes unpleasant for Powers. He says that it often looks like sounds to him, and that the sounds rarely make sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like going into an art gallery and seeing something that looked like the cross between a sound that a dog barking through a straw would make, or something,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The name of the art show is a reference to an extremely unpleasant synesthetic experience Powers had in a drawing class while working on a piece of abstract art.<\/p>\n

Non-synesthetes looking at Powers\u2019 artwork may be surprised and intrigued by the images made by familiar sounds. One painting, a portrait of a child laughing, also shows the sounds made by children\u2019s laughter. Around the happy child\u2019s face, the canvas is brilliant with bubbles and splashes of rainbow colors. Another canvas, a depiction of Led Zeppelin\u2019s song \u201cKashmir,\u201d shows a jagged, rising line surrounded by swirling reds, purples and blues.<\/p>\n

There are also graphite drawings of ambient sound, like birds, wind and the pump on a fish tank. The images roll and bristle over the paper, creating intricate soundscapes.<\/p>\n

Other sounds are not so interesting to look at.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to do a synesthetic drawing of some heavy metal music,\u201d says Powers, \u201cand it was by far one of the least interesting drawings, synesthetically, that I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

If synesthetic art is a strange new experience for most people, they can take comfort in knowing that it\u2019s relatively new to Powers, too. Until recently, he had dedicated his drawings to representing the world as the majority of people see it, as accurately as possible.<\/p>\n

But recently he has encountered more and more people who have shown interest in synesthesia. He says he enjoys teaching others about his unique point of view.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Anthony Powers: Powers\u2019 synesthesia takes the form of sound-to-color synesthesia. When he hears a sound, it is accompanied by an image and that's what he paints and draws.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt made me think that I wanted to go a step further than just explaining it to people. I wanted to try to make it more accessible,\u201d he says. \u201cBasically, it\u2019s about outreach to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

While drawing and painting the sounds he sees might be new, Powers\u2019 synesthesia has been with him since he was born. In second grade, when he tried to explain to his parents the different colors made by each letter of the alphabet, they realized there was something different about the way he saw things, and the family discovered synesthesia.<\/p>\n

However, many synesthetes never realize that they\u2019re different. Often, synesthetes assume that everyone experiences their senses the same way. As Powers puts it, you can\u2019t get inside someone else\u2019s head to compare notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo some extent, what everybody experiences is integrated unto that person and is completely personal,\u201d he says. But that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re wrong or crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dNot everybody sees ice cream come out of a piano when it\u2019s being played,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that what I see is any less real.\u201d<\/p>\n

The curious will have a chance to get into Powers\u2019 head at his art show \u201cWhy Are the Walls Screaming?\u201d The show opens the evening of June 17 at the Yellow Springs Arts Council Gallery, 309 Xenia Ave., Yellow Springs, OH. For more information, visit <\/em>www.ysartscouncil.org.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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