Music is the genesis of Tim Bavington’s paintings. Through synthetic polymer paint, Bavington acts as a translator between the aural and the visual as he transforms guitar solos, melodies and bass lines into vertical bands of color. Tracks from bands such as The Darkness, Oasis and The Rolling Stones become vibrant bands of color, and bridge compositional concepts between seemingly unlike disciplines. Although Bavington has a method that designates sound to color and composition, the paintings are not literal translations; they remain open to intuition and decision-making, allowing for a distinct artistic presence.
This monumental work just completed on the San Francisco Bay Trail was two years in the making. The work is based on the song “Touch of Grey” which was a 1987 single by the Grateful Dead, and is from the album In the Dark. The song is known for its refrain “I will get by / I will survive”. It combines quasi-dystopian lyrics with a pop tempo. The music was composed by Jerry Garcia, and the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. It was also released as a music video, the first one by the Grateful Dead.
Tim Bavington (b. 1966, England) received his BFA from the Art Center (CA) before making the permanent move to Las Vegas, where he completed his MFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (NV). His work is included in the public collections of Fredrick R. Weisman Collection (CA), Crocker Art Museum (CA), Honolulu Art Museum (HI), Albright-Knox Art Gallery (NY), Creative Artists Agency (CA), Joslyn Art Museum (NE), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (CA), Portland Art Museum (OR), United Talent Agency (CA), Vivendi Universal (CA), Palm Springs Art Museum (CA), Denver Art Museum (CO), The Museum of Modern Art (NY), Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University (UT) and the McNay Art Museum (TX). He has exhibited at LeeAhn Gallery (Daegu), Jack Shainman Gallery (NY), Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard (Paris), Space Gallery (London), Museum of Fine Arts (MA), Laguna Art Museum (CA), Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Buenos Aires, and the Texas Fine Arts Center (TX) among others.
The work will be landscaped and fully completed in December 2019 on The The San Francisco Bay Trail – a bicycle and pedestrian trail that when finished will allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2019, 356 miles (573 km) of the trail have been completed. When finished, the trail will be over 500 miles (800 km) of paved and gravel paths, bike lanes, and sidewalks, linking 47 cities across nine counties and crossing seven toll bridges. It is a project of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), in collaboration with other agencies, private companies, non-profit organizations, and advocacy groups. The trail is intended to provide recreation for hikers and bicyclists, viewpoints for wildlife, space for environmental education, and corridors for bicycle transportation as well as access to historic, natural and cultural sites, including over 130 parks. For more information go to: https://baytrail.org
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