As a Canada-based Korean artist with a multifaceted background as a cellist, architect, university professor of architecture in Korea, art gallery director and artist in France, my creative journey has always been anchored in music. Raised in a musical family, I spent my early years enveloped by melodies, which later inspired me to bridge the auditory and the visual. This passion led me through a rigorous academic path, from mechanical engineering and architecture in the United States to architectural history in France where I developed a fascination for deconstructing complex, interconnected systems.

In 2019, I established an art gallery in Paris, France to collaborate with international artists, a period that sharpened my own vision as a competitive artist. Today, my work functions as a 'geometric lens' through which I interpret Western classical music and K-pop. Using 'geometric play,' I visualize the inner architecture of sound: its themes, motifs, and the physical gestures of performance. The work I have created spans more than twenty years, integrating experiences acquired as an architect, artist, and director of an art gallery into the best practices of my work to be showcased.

As my training in the cello and my understanding of music deepened, I became increasingly drawn to the visual representation of countless musical melodies. One might call it an instinctive, or perhaps professional, mindset of an architect who possesses a profound understanding of music.

In the process, I discovered that visualizing music has been both a distinct genre and a challenge for visual artists. Historically, figures such as Kandinsky stand out, and in architecture, attempts to visualize and spatialize music have consistently flowed through the history of art. Iannis Xenakis designed music using stochastic mathematical models and manifested them into architectural forms, one of the most tangible examples of transposing musical structures into physical space. Similarly, Goethe’s evocative description of architecture as 'frozen music' first captivated me during my architectural studies; it has since evolved into a profound source of inspiration, shaping how I navigate the intricate relationship between structure, form, and expression.

However, such attempts never quite solidified into a mainstream trend within the broader visual arts. Indeed, the systems of symmetry in Western classical architecture align perfectly with the harmonic proportions found in music. Yet, these instances represent a shared 'mathematical order' rather than the specific visualization of a particular musical composition.

The reason specific musical visualizations never reached a definitive zenith may be that music has generally been regarded as an art of time, while visual art is seen as an art of space. Simultaneously, music served not as an object to be mimicked, but as a key to liberation, freeing the artist from the constraints of representation. In other words, the goal was often to become as free as music rather than to merely express it visually.

I, however, took the opposite approach. I have always believed that if one possesses a precise understanding of a specific music piece’s structure and logic, penetrating every note and measure, being able to perform it on an instrument, and internalizing its emotional essence, then a scientific approach to its visual representation would allow people to intuitively evoke the music by looking at the visual work.

Music notes move dynamically, and I sought to capture their sounds and sketch their movements onto canvas. Whether intense or serene, these notes relate to each other and often intersect, embodying fundamental principles of music that give rise to various "musical images." These images are shaped into balanced forms following specific musical rules, ultimately achieving great harmony. Occasionally, there may be cognitive dissonance in music, which paradoxically contributes to its beauty. My aim was to capture these graceful movements of music notes while understanding their sounds and meanings, envisioning spaces where music could be heard most beautifully.

Additionally, I had a strong desire to depict all aspects of music: a unique story of human life, nature, culture, nation, the movements of performers, the gestures and expressions of conductors, and the emotions of impression, hope, and sorrow. Using geometry, I intended to render these elements as if drafting architectural plans. Shostakovich's music, evoking cold yet passionate narratives, Debussy's compositions with their subtle, colorful juxtapositions of ideas, and Prokofiev's music, showcasing irresistible beauty and dreams of escaping reality, all served as rich sources for creating diverse forms.

Could there be a way to describe pure beauty that transcends verbal expression and brings joy to people? In pursuit of an answer to this question, I continue to sketch "frozen music," metaphorically preserving music in visual form, hoping to inspire those who appreciate both music and art with diverse and beautiful imaginations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Sanghoon KANG  2021