Influence: Grimes

I have always listened to music a lot, every day, walking places, in my room, etc. I guess I have thought about its relation to visual or fine art before, but not in much depth. In the past few weeks I have become slightly obsessed with the musician Grimes…watching interviews with her is interesting because she seems to approach music in a similar way to a fine art student; thinking about influences and construction of the art both creatively and critically. I like it when you can tell there is a rich background of research and culture behind an artwork or song and I definitely think this is the case with Grimes’ music. This makes for a really inspirational body of work that other people can bounce off and react to.

The track above is from her first album, Geidi Primes. I feel like this song is what I aim to create in a visual sense. I have been doing some small scale drawings partly inspired by the darkness, layers, and brooding atmosphere that Grimes cultivates in this album. Whilst researching her practice and way of working I found out that she also makes visual art unprofessionally on the side. I feel like it corresponds well with her work and will influence me. I guess the drawings I have been doing are more rooted in personal experience though (like a lot of my work, they are diaristic in a sense.) I will share some of the work I’ve been making in reaction to all of this stuff in another post very soon!