The Sonic Story Continues
The Sonic Story Continues
The Sanctuary Hallway at Epiphany Center for the Arts
August 13, 2022 to October 8, 2022
Self-proclaimed absurdist and artist Lewis Achenbach continues to visually improvise and document the music scene as he has done for the last 10 years, capturing the frequency in the room. He offers a rewarding and creative form of adulation and reverence, through the cross-pollination of the sonic arts and visual arts. He shares what he has discovered by working on this discipline through public performances that are both virtual and in-person, a process he has titled a Jazz Occurrence and which he considers an invitation into his artistic process.
Achenbach’s means of production are varied, ranging from the traditional to the digital, and including canvas that you can touch that is layered with paints you can smell; wood panel scribed with pastels, charcoal and carpenter’s chalk; and sketches of sound on paper. A painting created during a set is built using layers of music, employing both abstraction and representation; resulting in an experience that is like looking at the frames of an animated film, all at once. It is a document of time; a form of time travel, each brushstroke portending the next musical phrase. Absurd in concept, yet beautiful and revelatory in the act. Every artwork is a sketch for a singular body of work that tells The Sonic Story.
For more information or to schedule a viewing appointment, please email art@epiphanychi.com.
Lewis Achenbach graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts for Film and Animation, where he became skilled in traditional animation, printmaking, decorative and trade painting, and arts advocacy. Formally painting music and musicians since 2012, he founded the Jazz Occurrence project which pairs the sonic arts and the visual arts. Achenbach founded this program to get closer to the music- he is both an observer and participant to the musicians as he paints in public view during a performance, capturing the frequency in the room. Lewis Achenbach’s background in animation is important in the success of a Jazz Occurrence, utilizing storytelling, storyboards, key frames, and key poses. Lewis has published two books of his own artworks: Hear This Book and the first Jazz Occurrence coloring book. Achenbach has also had residencies and collaborations with Chicagoland festivals and institutions as a featured artist, including the University of Chicago in 2018, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Gala 2021, Dupage Community Arts Festival 2022, and many more.
Lewis Achenbach graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts for Film and Animation, where he became skilled in traditional animation, printmaking, decorative and trade painting, and arts advocacy. Formally painting music and musicians since 2012, he founded the Jazz Occurrence project which pairs the sonic arts and the visual arts. Achenbach founded this program to get closer to the music- he is both an observer and participant to the musicians as he paints in public view during a performance, capturing the frequency in the room. Lewis Achenbach’s background in animation is important in the success of a Jazz Occurrence, utilizing storytelling, storyboards, key frames, and key poses. Lewis has published two books of his own artworks: Hear This Book and the first Jazz Occurrence coloring book. Achenbach has also had residencies and collaborations with Chicagoland festivals and institutions as a featured artist, including the University of Chicago in 2018, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Gala 2021, Dupage Community Arts Festival 2022, and many more.
Artwork
