2011.07.14 - Press Release - Interview with Matt (about his drum art collection)

On August 5, music and art collide with the unveiling of a highly limited collection of visual artwork by legendary drummer Matt Sorum. Working in collaboration with creativity house SceneFour, Matt Sorum's fine art debut is an unprecedented, comprehensive study of rhythm light and 100 rhythmic performances captured on canvases. Each piece in the series is epic in size, and all are numbered and signed.

Facts about Sorum's art collection:

* There are a total of five different visual pieces in the collection to choose from.
* Of the five pieces, there will a total of 130 total drafts to own, each numbered and signed by Sorum. Once those pieces are sold, no more drafts will be printed.
* All of the art pieces in the collection are large in size. The largest is 60" x 48" and the smallest piece is 30" x 20".
* Beginning in September, Sorum's collection will become available to galleries in the United States and Europe.
* Like all SceneFour art releases, you can purchase the piece in full, or you can own a piece through a payment plan (with no interest charged).

Interview with Sorum about his art collection:

Question: With this collection, you're creating artwork through your rhythms. Are the drumsticks you're paint brushes? What can you tell us about the drummer becoming the artist?

Sorum: I never considered myself an artist in that form until it was brought to my attention that it could be done. So I think there are similarities to painters. You know the sticks relate to brush strokes. The fact that we're able to capture that image and create art out of it and the similarities and achieve aspects that artists can achieve with a brush, I think makes solid sense to me. I think there's a similarity. Whatever motion each human has, in a different way, creates their vision. Great artists have a different feel from each other, nobody is similar, everyone has a different take on things and it comes through in the movement.

Question: Though the art is abstract, there are definitely things that come through visually with each piece. Did you realize that the performances would turn out so highly visual when you started creating these?

Sorum: To see actual shapes and images is kind of a trip, as is the relation to arm movements and physical movements that create mental images in the art. You know it could be a sort of scientific study here. The fact that there's a face that looks like Jesus in one of the pieces and in another print I really strongly recognized a skull, if you start to get into a heavy process about it...who knows.

Question: There are only 100 canvases in your collection. Can you talk about the limited nature of this collection and how those that will own the work, in essence will own a performance?

Sorum: I think it's something that they can feel, a different side of you that they've never felt before. If they're a fan of my career, they'll always have a sense of who I am watching me through my life and now they can look at something that is completely different from what they could expect from me. To me it's got an emotion inside of it. You've heard the music, you've seen the concert, you've watched the video but there's something a little deeper here that I looked at and went "Wow," this takes you more inside of the real feeling that comes from whatever it is I'm presenting as a musician. I like that, and I'm really proud of this. It's like I can consider myself a well-rounded artist. It's like, "I haven't done it all, but I'm getting there."

Question: You're the first to do this.

Sorum: I know there's going to be a lot of drummers that are going to go "wow." And I've presented it to a lot of my friends, but now they're all going to go, "I want to do that." And that's cool you know. I think everyone is going to have a different take on this thing. That's the beauty of it.

Question: Why did you want each of the canvases so big?

Sorum: The kind of music that I play is large so I couldn't see it scrunched into a little canvas. I'm kind of known for being a flamboyant grandiose type of player so you know, so it's a little bit over the top, the showmanship. It should be big, you should be able to look at the wall and say, "That's exciting."

For more information, visit MattSorumArt.com.

Blabbermouth, Jan. 30, 2012:
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Matt Sorum's Art Collection: First 50 Pieces Completed

Legendary drummer Matt Sorum has finished the first 50 of his 100 "Epic Rhythm Canvases." Described as "massive, abstract and unprecedented," each piece in this collection by Sorum is a drum performance captured through rhythmic light with time manipulation effectively documenting an entire performance accurately.

Prints of the following five different pieces are available:

* Hearts Of Ghosts
* To Sail With Jesus
* Stone Fish
* Cleopetria
* My Skull, My Strength

https://archive.blabbermouth.net/news/matt-sorum-s-art-collection-first-50-pieces-completed/