Gregory Heubner-ARTIST'S STATEMENTS (1st of 2)
Passage | Bass Lines
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The nineteen paintings in the “Bass Lines” exhibit were completed while I was on sabbatical leave from Wabash College in 2002. The concept for a series of paintings based on jazz compositions began to form in my mind two years ago as I took my first infant steps in understanding jazz theory. While playing acoustic bass with the Wabash College Jazz Improvisation Combo, I began to discover many similarities between jazz composition and my own approach to composition as an abstract painter. The formation of color, texture, form, line, rhythm, balance, counterpoint, and improvisation in jazz is so similar in feeling to how those elements are organized in abstract painting that I began to find myself “singing” my paintings.
I have titled this series “Bass Lines” because it is the bass that lays down the form on which the other musicians can improvise. As the late bassist Ray Brown has often stated, “The bass is the heart and soul of a jazz ensemble.” The title of this series is also a play on the underlying form of a painting when its composition is first established with base lines. It is upon these base lines that the elements of color, form, texture, etc., are improvised repeatedly until the theme is established. In this series of paintings, the black lines are always the bass/base lines.
Gregory Huebner
September 2002