Infinite Color Sound - Mike McCready & Kate Neckel

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  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314


    VISUAL ART AND PERFORMANCE
    Infinite Color and Sound: Sway
    3/22–5/18
    Kate Neckel—an abstract visual artist who, The New York Times said, “has never been bound by the traditional confines of canvas and paper”—is presumably the “color” half of artistic duo Infinite Color and Sound. The “sound” side of the pair? A name you may recognize: Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. Yet their premiering exhibition, Sway, a collection of collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, music and performance, seems guided less by their traditional roles than by what the gallery describes a “lack of rules, boundaries, or restrictions,” the collaborators sharing interchanging creative tasks. The duo’s exhibit will be launched with two performances revealing the process of their multimedia work together. Performances: March 22–23. 7:30 p.m. Prices TBA. Gallery exhibition: Times vary. Free. Winston Wachter Gallery, 203 Dexter Ave. N, LQA; 206.652.5855

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314
    https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/inside-guitarist-mike-mccready-and-artist-kate-neckels-soul-opening-infinite-color-sound-project/

    Inside guitarist Mike McCready and artist Kate Neckel’s ‘soul-opening’ Infinite Color & Sound project

       
    Originally published March 13, 2019 at 6:00 am

    Infinite Color  Sound the mixed-media project of Pearl Jams Mike McCready and artist Kate Neckle makes its debut with Sway which includes performances March 22 and 23 and an exhibition that goes through May 18 at Winston Wchter Fine Art gallery in Seattle from March 22-23 Jim Bennett
    Its opening my mind to art and life Mike McCready says of the collaboration with artist Kate Neckel Jim Bennett
    Infinite Color & Sound, the mixed-media project of Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and... (Jim Bennett) More 

    The Pearl Jam guitarist and accomplished visual artist pushed each other in new ways in their collaboration. Their exhibition opens at Winston Wächter Fine Art gallery with March 22-23 performances from the mixed-media duo.

    Michael Rietmulder 
    By 
    Seattle Times music writer

    Mike McCready is wearing his “fancy boots.”

    It’s not his typical workwear, at least on an off-tour morning when the Pearl Jam guitarist is nimbly hopping around cerulean blue and yellow paint splotches on the recycled Home Shows merch boxes spread out on the concrete floor.

    It’s a precious sunny winter day, but McCready and artist Kate Neckel are in the bowels of Pearl Jam’s warehouse, fine-tuning the performance aspects of their upcoming exhibition at Winston Wächter Fine Art gallery. A photographer snaps away (hence the snazzier kicks) as McCready swipes a curvy teal stroke across a large canvas. Off to the side, Neckel’s gaze oscillates between the guitar she’s gently strumming and McCready’s movements.

    Armed with a paint brush and Polaroid camera, McCready bounces between the canvas and the decorated mannequins seated at a nearby card table with increased urgency, avoiding the acrylic puddles on the cardboard beneath him. As if sensing his energy shift, Neckel’s playing intensifies, with harsher tones growing louder. Eventually, the two trade places and as the audiovisual art piece continues to build, a natural sense of order emerges through the media-blending pastiche.

    “It’s always different,” Neckel says after completing the trial run through what will be a portion of their exhibition. “There’s no real rules.”

    Hence the name of their boundless mixed-media collaboration, Infinite Color & Sound, which debuts at Winston Wächter with sold-out opening performances March 22-23 as part of an exhibition called “Sway.” Some of the musical elements will be for sale on a few 45s. The fixed pieces will run at the South Lake Union gallery through May 18.

    The duo who make up Infinite Color & Sound first met at last year’s Seattle Art Fair where, enamored with her work, McCready wanted to know the story behind each piece — something he never does, he says. McCready’s wife was already familiar with Neckel’s art and the couple commissioned her to do an abstract family portrait for their home.

    As they got to know each other, McCready — a son of an art teacher — mentioned he’d always wanted to do a project combining music and visual art in the vein of Andy Warhol’s The Factory. Neckel, a veteran of the New York art scene who moved to Seattle two years ago, shared the same vision and the two began collaborating.

    “It’s scary and vulnerable,” McCready says of the “soul-opening” experience, taking a seat on a folding chair. “I’ve never painted before, I’ve never drawn or been comfortable with any of that until this project. Kate brought that out of me. …

    “Do I have paint on my face?”

    His boots survived the morning’s art romp unblemished, but his cheek did not, and Neckel pops up to grab a wipe.

    “Mom, no!” McCready jokes, fake squirming as Neckel scrubs the teal streak off his face.

    “You don’t want this getting in your skin,” she says.

    There were no real limits or expectations to their fertile sessions, which, from the sounds of it, had the childlike spirit and energy of creative play dates between new friends. One day they’re at Alki Beach, painting rocks and tracing each other on a canvas and the next they’re hauling the mannequins, a guitar and some snacks to a Seward Park amphitheater McCready never knew existed for an impromptu jam session/photo shoot exploring their new setting.

    “You know when you’re a kid you might go to friend’s house and take two chairs, grab a sheet off the bed and make a tent?” Neckel says, describing their work style. “You just start creating an imaginary world with a friend, seeing what you have around in your room — ‘All right, let’s make a tent. This is gonna be a spaceship now, launch it to the moon!’ That’s the mentality that we have.”

    The title of the exhibition, “Sway,” stemmed from McCready’s favorite Rolling Stones song “Sway” — particularly the line “It’s just that demon life has got me in its sway.” For whatever reason, he and Neckel found themselves writing the word on each other’s arms or someplace each day as they worked, and it ended up in the title.

    “To me, it’s about, how do you navigate life when adversity comes your way?” McCready says. “What happens? Do you crumble? Do you rise above it? Do you learn something from it? As a human being, how do I keep learning from the sway of life?”


  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

    For both Neckel and McCready, embracing new mediums came with trepidation and excitement. McCready, no stranger to big stages, admits to some nervousness before the morning’s practice run in front of a reporter and a few members of his camp. But thanks to each other’s encouragement and creative synergy, the rock great and accomplished artist have been empowered to explore new creative avenues they previously thought they couldn’t.

    “It’s opening my mind to art and life,” McCready says of their collaboration. “It’s given me a confidence that I hadn’t had before, in terms of artistic ability or changing the way I’m thinking — like, ‘Wow, I guess I can do this stuff’— instead of negating it in my brain.”

    “It’s like I’ve found a whole new aisle in the art store,” says Neckel, who only knew a few chords before they connected. “I’d never written songs before or even attempted to write lyrics, and now these things just come to me, through [working with] Mike.”

    _____

    Infinite Color & Sound: “Sway” exhibition; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, March 22-May 18; Winston Wächter Fine Art gallery, 203 Dexter Ave. N.; free; seattle.winstonwachter.com

  • 2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,090
    kramer73 said:
    I'm happy for Mike. Pearl Jam is dead. :disappointed:
    Ok chicken little.
    That was a rather dramatic comment on my part. :chicken:
    www.cluthelee.com
  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

    Here’s the guitar Mike McCready is talking about in the article ✍️✨


  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314
    edited March 2019

    The renowned guitarist is putting aside fear and embracing a new artistic medium.

    Eileen Kinsella, March 18, 2019

    Musician Mike McCready plays the United States national anthem at the Match For Africa 4 exhibition match at KeyArena on April 29 2017 in Seattle Washington Photo by Suzi PrattGetty Images
    Musician Mike McCready plays the United States national anthem at the Match For Africa 4 exhibition match at KeyArena on April 29, 2017, in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Suzi Pratt/Getty Images.

    It’s hard to imagine that someone with more than 25 years experience playing lead guitar for one of the world’s top-selling bands would be intimidated at the prospect of an art gallery show.

    But longtime Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, who fans know as a major force behind singles such as “Alive” and “Glorified G,” acknowledges that his first foray into the visual arts is taking him beyond his comfort zone.

    On March 22, he and artist Kate Neckel open a collaborative art and music show at the Winston Wächter gallery in Seattle. So how exactly does he feel? “Nervous and excited,” he told artnet News. “But more excited.”

    Infinite Color  Sound Kate Neckles and Mike McCready Photo Chris Adams

    Infinite Color & Sound (Kate Neckles and Mike McCready). Photo: Chris Adams.

    McCready met Neckel after his wife saw her artwork at the recent Seattle Art Fair and commissioned a major piece. Neckel, a former New Yorker now based in Seattle, has long been inspired by some of her favorite bands and musicians. She has even worked with David Byrne to create t-shirts and videos. And now, with McCready’s support, she is learning guitar, honing her vocals skills, and writing songs.

    The two initially discussed doing a project loosely modeled on Andy Warhol‘s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a series of 1970s multimedia events. But even with precedents in place, there’s still a learning curve. “We’re both learning these things that we don’t know how to do,” McCready says.

    The duo have dubbed themselves Infinite Color and Sound, and their Seattle show is titled “Sway” in homage to a favorite song from the Rolling Stones’s album Sticky Fingers. Currently, there are about half dozen large canvases completed along with numerous drawings and original songs that will feature in the show.


    Infinite Color & Sound, Circular Vision (2019). Photo: Jim Bennett.

    “I was always fascinated by painters and artists in other mediums,” says McCready, whose mother was an art teacher and who introduced him to artists like Vincent van Gogh, David Hockney, and Monet. He cites Laurie Anderson’s song “O Superman” as a good example of “mixing worlds.”

    But McCready says he never really pursued visual art. “I never had the confidence to put a paintbrush to paper or draw because I just felt like I wasn’t good at it,” he says. “That kept me stifled in terms of creativity. Guitar is something I was used to.” (He first picked up the instrument when he was 11.)

    He and Neckel are also working with a vocal teacher on harmonies and breathing. (The exhibition includes two sold-out performances.) “We’re serious about it,” he says. “Even though this is something I’ve done a little with my band, I need to learn in terms of other things, like writing lyrics, which Kate does very well. It’s cool to see someone learning how it all works in terms of making a song for the first time.”

    Neckel, whose drawings have been featured in publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, InStyle, O, Fast Company, and GQ, has also created commissions for Hudson Studios, Cole Haan, and the Ace Hotel. While she has been expanding the handful of guitar chords she already knew, she has also been focusing more on lyrics, singing, and bringing ideas to McCready. “He opens it up on a whole other level and brings it to life on the guitar,” Heckel says. “It’s the most exciting thing.”


    Infinite Color & Sound, Colliding Muses (2019). Photo: Jim Bennett.

    Asked what parallels he sees between music and fine art, McCready says with guitar playing, “generally the first take, that’s the one, and I don’t think about it too much. I feel like that’s how I’m painting too, by doing the first thing in my head or creating music to what [Kate] is painting, how her hand is moving, or the line she’s creating. I can’t think stuff out because if I do that, then it becomes forced and doesn’t have a soul to it.”

    On the other hand, he says he recently bought a book on how to draw a nose. “I probably never would have bought that book before,” he says with a laugh.

    Asked about the takeaways from creating their first show, McCready says he didn’t realize that four months is not a standard amount of time for an entirely new body of work. “Maybe next time,” he says, “we’ll take a year.”

    Sway: Infinite Color & Sound” will be at Winston Wächter Fine Art, 203 Dexter Avenue, Seattle, from March 22 through May 18.




    Post edited by demetrios on
  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314
    edited March 2019
    Post edited by demetrios on
  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

    Sway: Infinite Color & Sound

    Kate Neckel & Mike McCready

    March 22 - May 18, 2019

    Artist in attendance

    Main Gallery Infinite Color & Sound Performances, SOLD OUT: Friday March 22nd & Saturday March 23rd, doors at 7:30pm

    West Gallery Infinite Color & Sound Exhibition March 22 – May 18, 2019

    Winston Wächter Fine Art is pleased to announce the premiere exhibition Sway by the collaborative group Infinite Color & Sound, comprised of artist and musician Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam) and New York/Seattle painter Kate Neckel. Infinite Color & Sound is a visual art and music duo, with works ranging from collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, music and performance. Guests of the two performances will experience an intimate view of the process which created artistic duo, Infinite Color and Sound.

    Upon meeting, the two immediately connected artistically and began their journey through color and sound, which can be described as ‘Infinite’ due to a lack of rules, boundaries, or restrictions in their synergistic creations. “You could drop us anywhere and we could create…,” says Neckel. “We intuitively guide each other and know how to play like kids. Mike feels what I feel and knows exactly what to do with it. I trust his hands and eyes like my own.” McCready adds, “Kate has an amazing, artistic vision. Her paintings are expressive and moving and it’s an honor to be creating with her. She has given me a confidence to step out of my comfort zone of (Polaroid photography and music) and challenges me to try other mediums like painting and collage. One of my favorite aspects of this project is the vulnerability that is celebrated.”

    Kate Neckel’s work has been exhibited nationally, and in the documentary “House of Z.”. Neckel has been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, InStyle, O, Fast Company and GQ. Her drawings have been commissioned for the walls of private and corporate clients, including The New York Times, Cole Haan, the Seattle Seahawks and the Ace Hotel New York. Neckel holds a MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and a MFA from School of Visual Arts.

    Mike McCready is the lead guitarist, and one of the founding members for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted band Pearl Jam.  He has also been a member of Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, The Rockfords and Levee Walkers. Additionally, McCready plays with friends in Flight to Mars, a UFO tribute band that hosts charity events for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s Camp Oasis program and the Jennifer Jaff Care Line. When not performing live, McCready scores TV and film projects, which have included Elvis Presley: The Searcher, The Glamour & the Squalor, Shameless, Fat Kid Rules the World, Hawaii Five-O, We Bought A Zoo, Horrible Bosses & Fringe.

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314
  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314
    3 vinyl singles by Infinite Color Sound




  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314


  • demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,314

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