Cross Note - Art

In Cross Note, a monolithic gray figure occupies the central focus of the painting. This gray tower is imposing, and its top is menacingly dark, a swath of black shadow cast across its top. The dark figure in this piece is forbidding and inspires fear and anxiety in the painting’s viewer. The dark, monochromatic color scheme of this painting adds to the mood of danger and fear.

Yet the title of this piece suggests a musical subject for this painting. Indeed, the figure itself can be seen as the abstracted image of a musical note. The black bar across the top of the painting is the note, and the slender dark line that extends to the bottom is the note’s stem. The gray shade below the note is the residual sound that lingers after the note is sounded. Yet the painting remains dark and imposing, evoking the sound of a melancholy note ringing out in the sad song written in a mournful minor key.

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