FACE TO FACE Bralove, who has a Masters Degree in composition, studied with Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Wayne Peterson, focusing on composing orchestral and chamber works. He perfected his skills in the digital manipulation of sound as the sound designer and computer music director for Stevie Wonder (Woman in Red, In Square Circle). After eight-year tenure with Stevie, he began working with the Grateful Dead. His first project was to help score the CBS remake of the television series, The Twilight Zone. |
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Bralove says, "Towards the end of the Grateful Dead, lighting designer Candace Brightman and I worked out a system where the performance information from the stage could be used by her to control the lightshow. She could make the lights dance to the actual performance of the notes. Once I saw the power of this system I began to think of how to integrate visuals within the context of my own performances." |
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With the psychedelics influencing his "freedom of expression," Bralove explains, that he "began experimenting with various media (including live performance with video, acrylics, oils, drawing)." He found the combination of "acrylics and ink to be fruitful for him." The paintings in the Gualala show will "explore characters in relationship to each other (acrylic), as well as the multitude of characters, both human and non-human, from our past and present who help make up who we are (ink). The acrylic defines the composition while the inks show the Keith Haring inside us all." Eventually they found the medium of plaster-impregnated gauze as something that would have the strength to build the sizeable structures they wanted to build, be paintable, and flexible enough in its wet state to allow them to create the facial features for the heads. Bralove comments that "One can clearly see the influences of Mardi Gras floats and Mexican Day of the Dead masks in the execution of these fantasy characters. Each of us brought different ideas to each of the characters, creating heads which are both familiar and surprising to both of us." |
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The video installation uses the technique he calls digital finger-painting. Using a computer, Bralove maps the drawings to the individual notes of his keyboard. Bralove plays a key that corresponds to an image which is then displayed on a video screen. Bralove will be creating audience participation by allowing them to "buy a drawing off the wall framed and ready to display at home. To encourage this I am pricing the drawings at $20 including the frame. If this works there will be a constantly shifting context of drawings that the video will live in." The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Gualala Road in Gualala, CA, bob@bobbralove.com |