In the world of art, whether it is music, paintings ect, it seems people limit themselves or bow to the dollar and are gone in a heartbeat. Then you have Serj Tankian, founder of System Of A Down as well as a diverse solo artist with a myriad of releases ranging from rock, to jazz and even orchestral movements. Now he has shown the light on his other passion, painting. He has taken his talents to canvas with his Eye For Sound project, mixing the world of music and the brush in a creative masterstroke. In the middle of a hectic period with a gallery debut, he took a moment for a Q&A with Metal Exiles to reveal to you his visions for his art.
An interview with Serj Tankian.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: Is the anticipation of your art exhibit opening the same as releasing new music to the public? Does it have the same euphoria?
Serj Tankian: I'm very excited about the Disarming Time musical paintings exhibition. It's such a unique event combining music, art, and technology to create this wonderful experience. It is different from a music only release because although the experience involves music, it is only one aspect of the experience. Visual art makes the experience more tangible in some ways I guess. We are not selling the music in this case for example; we are selling some of the art with music serving to complete the experience.
Metal Exiles: With the art exhibit, it seems as though you are the complete artist. In the beginning, did you see yourself doing this in the future?
Serj: Though the ideas of what I've been working on started many years ago, these actual paintings and their musical scores were started earlier this year (2013). I have 22 musical paintings so far and am creating more. It's the idea of a multi-sensory experience stemming from music that opened my interest into painting to be honest. So for me, as always, it came first from the music. I wanted to see my music as I've been saying.
Metal Exiles: When you were composing The System stuff like Aerials, which is very chaotic, what did you see in your head as far as art is concerned?
Serj: With most of the songs and music that I've composed, irrespective of the myriad videos made, I was always careful not to overly define the experience leaving room for people to internalize things for themselves, making their experience more integral. With the paintings, it was less about that because most of the music are not songs but pieces that needed a counterpart.
Metal Exiles: When you did your first piece, Disarming Time, did the painting come first or did the music? What did you hear in your head? Was it the same for Grieving Banner?
Serj: I usually first compose the music, then create the art to match the music-a reverse scoring process.
That is why I've coined the phrase See Music, Hear Art.
Metal Exiles: In the pieces I have seen on your website, Eye For Sound, all of the pieces have clocks. What does the clock/time symbolize in your art?
Serj: Part of the process on most of the pieces is utilizing the concept of timelessness represented by clock faces without arms to represent the notes of the music on the canvas. Music can be in time yet represent infinity in terms of inspiration.
Metal Exiles: The art is extremely stimulating but musically what can the fans expect when they scan the painting? What directions did the paintings take you?
Serj: The music is designed to enhance the viewing experience like the score to a film. They take you deeper into the layers of the myriad meanings that exist beneath the paint of our subconscious.
Metal Exiles: Creating art is one thing, but displaying it for fans and critics is another. Why did you decide to create an exhibit and what do you hope the fans gain from the experience?
Serj: I hope that the combination of the music with the art serves to better communicate the dynamic of emotions present within each and every one of the pieces.
It is to move people like everything else we do. To think, laugh, feel, etc. One day we want to be able to interact with all the senses of the human body.
Metal Exiles: People are so addicted to their smart phones, is this one of the reasons you went this route?
Serj: Originally we were working with speakers and Bluetooth mp3 players embedded within the canvases for the musical experience but soon realized the limitations of such an approach. We instead decided to focus on the music and the art and create an app (eyeforsound) that allowed people to use their smartphones and tablets to experience the music and the information about each piece utilizing optical recognition technology. This way, people can connect it to their own speaker systems, home stereos, headphones or whatever preferable audio experience they desire.
Metal Exiles: You have had such a diverse musical career outside of System, do you feel refreshed each time you push the so called musical boundaries that maybe the fans place on what you do?
Serj: That's a very good question. An artist creates what comes to him. In a perfect world, he does not serve a master be that the King or admiring fans.
People's expectations and commercial entitlements should not play any part in what we do. If that sounds idealistic, it is. But that's always been my modus operandi and it's served me well so far.
Metal Exiles: In my opinion, with your diverse musical dabbling’s, art, record label, composing, you to me are the modern day Frank Zappa, someone who could not be put into one category. Do you ever see yourself as the same kind of visionary?
Serj: I'm a huge Zappa fan and have been to his house, studio, interviewed Gale, his wife, for a film I'll be putting out one day about my experiences in 2011.
That said, I'm also influenced by many other forms of art, literature, films, people, and mostly events in life. I've always had the exploratory vision with music and art and never understood the commercial or expectations based borders artist seem to self-impose upon themselves.
Metal Exiles: To divert for a moment, one of your last offerings, Jazz Iz Christ, reveals a taste in Monk, Hancock, Miles ect. What was your vision for this originally?
Serj: Jazz-iz-Christ is a collaborative effort with 4 other musicians that played on the whole record. That said, it was my concept and mostly my songs that I have put together over the years. Jazz is a part of my musical experiential tapestry and accordingly I've always wanted to put out a jazz record, but my way of course. The record is a fusion record with some classic jazz tracks, some progressive jazz tracks, acid jazz, fusion, and what not. It doesn't stay in one place just like the rest of my music.
Metal Exiles: What do you see in the future for your paintings? Where do you think it will take you and do you see more exhibitions?
Serj: As far as my musical paintings, I will continue to create more and do exhibitions in the future worldwide hopefully and also introduce eyeforsound to other artists so we can do collaborative exhibitions to bring this "idea" of Kandinsky's Synesthesia into the modern frame.
As far as modern artists are concerned, Serj Tankian stands above and beyond the expectations and it shows with what spawns from his creativity. Serj will indeed be a stalwart of this generation.
Official Serj Tankian Site
Official Eye For Sound Site
An interview with Serj Tankian.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: Is the anticipation of your art exhibit opening the same as releasing new music to the public? Does it have the same euphoria?
Serj Tankian: I'm very excited about the Disarming Time musical paintings exhibition. It's such a unique event combining music, art, and technology to create this wonderful experience. It is different from a music only release because although the experience involves music, it is only one aspect of the experience. Visual art makes the experience more tangible in some ways I guess. We are not selling the music in this case for example; we are selling some of the art with music serving to complete the experience.
Metal Exiles: With the art exhibit, it seems as though you are the complete artist. In the beginning, did you see yourself doing this in the future?
Serj: Though the ideas of what I've been working on started many years ago, these actual paintings and their musical scores were started earlier this year (2013). I have 22 musical paintings so far and am creating more. It's the idea of a multi-sensory experience stemming from music that opened my interest into painting to be honest. So for me, as always, it came first from the music. I wanted to see my music as I've been saying.
Metal Exiles: When you were composing The System stuff like Aerials, which is very chaotic, what did you see in your head as far as art is concerned?
Serj: With most of the songs and music that I've composed, irrespective of the myriad videos made, I was always careful not to overly define the experience leaving room for people to internalize things for themselves, making their experience more integral. With the paintings, it was less about that because most of the music are not songs but pieces that needed a counterpart.
Metal Exiles: When you did your first piece, Disarming Time, did the painting come first or did the music? What did you hear in your head? Was it the same for Grieving Banner?
Serj: I usually first compose the music, then create the art to match the music-a reverse scoring process.
That is why I've coined the phrase See Music, Hear Art.
Metal Exiles: In the pieces I have seen on your website, Eye For Sound, all of the pieces have clocks. What does the clock/time symbolize in your art?
Serj: Part of the process on most of the pieces is utilizing the concept of timelessness represented by clock faces without arms to represent the notes of the music on the canvas. Music can be in time yet represent infinity in terms of inspiration.
Metal Exiles: The art is extremely stimulating but musically what can the fans expect when they scan the painting? What directions did the paintings take you?
Serj: The music is designed to enhance the viewing experience like the score to a film. They take you deeper into the layers of the myriad meanings that exist beneath the paint of our subconscious.
Metal Exiles: Creating art is one thing, but displaying it for fans and critics is another. Why did you decide to create an exhibit and what do you hope the fans gain from the experience?
Serj: I hope that the combination of the music with the art serves to better communicate the dynamic of emotions present within each and every one of the pieces.
It is to move people like everything else we do. To think, laugh, feel, etc. One day we want to be able to interact with all the senses of the human body.
Metal Exiles: People are so addicted to their smart phones, is this one of the reasons you went this route?
Serj: Originally we were working with speakers and Bluetooth mp3 players embedded within the canvases for the musical experience but soon realized the limitations of such an approach. We instead decided to focus on the music and the art and create an app (eyeforsound) that allowed people to use their smartphones and tablets to experience the music and the information about each piece utilizing optical recognition technology. This way, people can connect it to their own speaker systems, home stereos, headphones or whatever preferable audio experience they desire.
Metal Exiles: You have had such a diverse musical career outside of System, do you feel refreshed each time you push the so called musical boundaries that maybe the fans place on what you do?
Serj: That's a very good question. An artist creates what comes to him. In a perfect world, he does not serve a master be that the King or admiring fans.
People's expectations and commercial entitlements should not play any part in what we do. If that sounds idealistic, it is. But that's always been my modus operandi and it's served me well so far.
Metal Exiles: In my opinion, with your diverse musical dabbling’s, art, record label, composing, you to me are the modern day Frank Zappa, someone who could not be put into one category. Do you ever see yourself as the same kind of visionary?
Serj: I'm a huge Zappa fan and have been to his house, studio, interviewed Gale, his wife, for a film I'll be putting out one day about my experiences in 2011.
That said, I'm also influenced by many other forms of art, literature, films, people, and mostly events in life. I've always had the exploratory vision with music and art and never understood the commercial or expectations based borders artist seem to self-impose upon themselves.
Metal Exiles: To divert for a moment, one of your last offerings, Jazz Iz Christ, reveals a taste in Monk, Hancock, Miles ect. What was your vision for this originally?
Serj: Jazz-iz-Christ is a collaborative effort with 4 other musicians that played on the whole record. That said, it was my concept and mostly my songs that I have put together over the years. Jazz is a part of my musical experiential tapestry and accordingly I've always wanted to put out a jazz record, but my way of course. The record is a fusion record with some classic jazz tracks, some progressive jazz tracks, acid jazz, fusion, and what not. It doesn't stay in one place just like the rest of my music.
Metal Exiles: What do you see in the future for your paintings? Where do you think it will take you and do you see more exhibitions?
Serj: As far as my musical paintings, I will continue to create more and do exhibitions in the future worldwide hopefully and also introduce eyeforsound to other artists so we can do collaborative exhibitions to bring this "idea" of Kandinsky's Synesthesia into the modern frame.
As far as modern artists are concerned, Serj Tankian stands above and beyond the expectations and it shows with what spawns from his creativity. Serj will indeed be a stalwart of this generation.
Official Serj Tankian Site
Official Eye For Sound Site
