Alex Mann
Violins Sound Yellow
Alex Mann
Alex Mann is an artist who lives and works in his studio in Braemar, Scotland. The walls of his gallery display a collection of paintings, all painted in a unique style, a style developed over 30 years. Whether the images depict the Braemar Gathering, Balmoral Castle or Swan Lake, each one of them displays a colourful representation of the sound of the music being played. His latest work is called, "The Millennium", an image that depicts events over the last 1000 years, most of which have featured war and conflict. The image symbolizes a new beginning, where the atomic bomb, featured in the painting, changes into a ray of new light and the dove of peace spreads its wings and flies high above the new Earth. Trees grow instead of being cut down and generally the painting provides a powerful feeling of optimism.
Millennium
within the visual sound of the 1812 overture
Alex Mann was born in Ayr in 1923. His father was a chicken farmer, who went on to become a successful director of a large national company of grocers. Often when Alex was a young child, his father would send him to his room for misbehaving. While there, he painted continuously. Art became his favorite subject at school.
After leaving school, Alex went to Art College in Sidcup. When he was at Art College he felt restricted, especially in the first year because all they did was draw, with little painting being taught. He recalls, "I wanted to be personally creative, but I became frustrated at having to draw all the time". Even at this time, the association with music and art started to form a link with him. "I was always getting into trouble from the lecturers for having the record player on and listening to jazz or classical music. Music helped stimulate me and I was only motivated with sound around me".
Alex joined the RAF after leaving Art College. During the war years he was sent to Egypt where he became an officer in the aircraft recognition unit. He desperately wanted to become a part of the aircrew, but was told that he had a perforated eardrum and could not fly. He became good at spotting and recognising enemy aircraft and achieved instructor level.
His first real insight into the power of art and music came while serving in the RAF. He became part of a 32-man unit and was posted behind enemy lines to gather intelligence for the RAF. While the unit stopped in the desert, they erected tents, one of which became known to the men as their "local". Alex decided to brighten up the tent and painted rolling hills on the walls. Alex remembers, "When the soldiers came into the tent they had tears in their eyes at the sight. This was my first realisation of how powerful art could be". A similar experience occurred while serving in Libya, where a concert was arranged for the troops. "A quartet was arranged and played Mozart and Brahms for 1000 soldiers. I could see everyone was emotionally disturbed, some of them had tears running down their faces".
After the War, Alex got married and started earning a living from art, painting battleships and other craft onto lampshades. "In a week I could paint eight lampshades and earn £1". By 1947 Alex was making almost £30 per week painting lampshades and had developed a system to speed up the operation. However, the stimulation he needed as a creative artist was not there and he tried a range of different art techniques, from cartooning to portraits. Although his work started to sell, he still struggled to earn enough money for his family and, reluctantly, had to accept an offer of employment from his father. He still managed to paint in the evenings.
One of the turning points in Alex’s early career came while watching a concert by Louis Armstrong in London. "I went to London to watch the concert and afterwards, I painted him. His music was an inspiration to me. I decided I needed to put some colour to his music, in fact, I put some red into his trumpet in the form of waves of colour – because that is how the trumpet sounded to me".
Alex became fascinated by the thought of trying to capture the sound of musical instruments in colour. He asked some fellow artists for advice and they all kept telling him that it was connected to the "atmosphere" of the event. Alex reflects, "It was very expensive going to concerts and so I bought a stereo and started listening to records. I talked to several people and they said to me that listening to a stereo did not give the same atmosphere. I started to think about atmosphere and what it meant; after all, I could listen to the same music at home on my stereo as I could in the concert hall – so what was atmosphere?"
His fascination with atmosphere became so intense that he started painting lots of different sounds. He painted an orchestra and tried to imagine the sound that each instrument made and how each one interfaced with the others. He looked at how musicians "see" music. He imagined violins as yellow waves, cellos as orange, brass instruments as having long flowing red waves and woodwinds as having short blue waves. His work started to sell and his first exhibition was held in 1950 in Stratford on Avon. Alex remembers one moment when people came into the gallery, looked at his work and exclaimed, "come and take a look at this – you can actually see the music".
If music be the God of Love, play on
within the visual sound of Radianee - Phillip Chapman
Alex set up a business in Birmingham, called Alexander Fine Arts. The business specialised in supplying artwork to architects for new buildings and structures. Together with 30 associate artists, their work was used in locations throughout the UK and included many shopping centers and oil companies. However, the business failed after Alex became involved with some unscrupulous business people. Soon afterwards, he moved back to Scotland.
Alex wanted to live in Scotland in a place central to several cities. He decided to visit Braemar for a short time, and stayed at the Invercauld Hotel. The manager at the hotel was so impressed with Alex’s work that he offered to advertise his paintings in the foyer. Alex sold his work and became the resident artist.
After seven years at the Invercauld, Alex moved to the Old School House at Aboyne, where he set up his studio and gallery. However, five years later, he moved back to Braemar, where he now lives and works.
At his gallery in Braemar, visitors can see a selection of original paintings and prints, all with one truly unique style, which have sold throughout the world. Paintings such as: Ruggiero Ricci – playing Paganini; Pavarotti – Nessum Dorma; and Balmoral Castle – the sound of the pipes; all display vivid, colourful waves, depicting the sound that emanates from the musical instruments, captured passionately by a master artist. His new piece, Millennium, can also be seen at the gallery and is available for sale as an original or as a limited edition print.
Ruggiero Ricci
within the visual sound of Paganini
Pavarotti
within the visual sound of Nessum Dorma
Peter Maxwell Davies
within the visual sound of into the Labyrinth