Linling Lu’s signature works are abstract paintings with concentric rings of bright, pulsating colors. These circular canvases (tondos) ranging in scale from small to human-size, have hypnotic as well as sonic qualities, inspiring introspection and contemplation. They give color, shape, and form to music, a primary source of inspiration for the artist who was first trained as a classical pianist. Entitled Soundwaves, Lu’s Intersections project engages with the Phillips Music performance of Philip Glass’s Etude no. 16 played on piano by Timo Andres in 2015 by visualizing the sound into a spatial configuration—soundwaves. She takes the repetitive notes and chords from Glass’s music and translates them into a physical space: the seven notes played on the piano by the left hand are represented by seven paintings on the left side of the gallery; the five notes played by the right hand are represented by five paintings on the right side of the gallery. “In this special arrangement, the emotions of music are carried through colors of paintings, each painting becoming an instrument, a source of sound that materializes the poetic quality of music.”

What Glass’s music and Lu’s painting share is sternness and rigor, but also something atmospheric and dreamy. Much like etudes, which are built from small cyclical blocks of music with repetitive rhythm creating melody and motion, Lu’s paintings are made with repetitive circular color bands arranged in various widths and intervals. In both one feels calm and emotional pulsation—soundwaves of nostalgia, joy, and solitude, but also a firm sense of order.

IMAGE: Digital rendering of Soundwaves, Courtesy of the artist