The most commonly asked questions about abstract paintings are about the artist’s inspiration or motivation, while some viewers often admit to not understanding the genre at all. Shirley Elias and Alexus, two artists based in Winnipeg, paint very different abstract forms but share a common inspiration, music.

The love and pursuit of music is deeply engrained in both artists. Elias had a distinguished career as a concert pianist before taking up painting. Her abstract paintings are bold and often illustrate musical notes and the instruments that create them. Similarly, Alexus studied music for more than 25 years in Europe and painted realism before he discovered a talent for musically inspired abstract paintings.

For example, Elias’ painting “Moonlight” was inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The painting illustrates Lake Lucerne, where the piece was written, juxtaposed with a destructed piano to represent the troubled state of the composer.

Elias draws the painting on the canvas and solves the entire puzzle before she starts to paint. She creates a distance from her work that she attributes to her piano career, where everything went into the performance and nothing remained once the final notes were played.

As for Alexus, he has commissioned musicians to write music and then perform it while he paints. He has a 4,000 sq. ft. studio separate from his dwelling, with a grand piano and room for musicians.

Some of his other works are performance pieces developed over a very short timeframe. Many of his artistic creations come from a familiarity with the music that just spontaneously inspires a variety of paintings and treatments. •

Duetto, a joint exhibit of paintings by Shirley Elias and Alexus, ran in October and November 2009 at the Art Beat Gallery in St. Albert, Alta., and the Birchwood Gallery in Winnipeg.