One of Canada’s more renowned contemporary artists recently showed his work in an exhibit at dc3 Art Projects, a gallery located just a couple of blocks from MacEwan University’s City Centre Campus.

Gary James Joynes (otherwise known by his stage moniker “Clinker”) has been heavily involved in the Edmonton arts community for quite a while. His installation “Ouroboros” was displayed in City Hall as part of the Nuit Blanche art festival in September. He continues to work with audio frequency and visual representation, making for a unique artistic experience that teases all the senses.

Joynes is eager to go into aspects of his past and where he gets the inspiration to create his unique works of art. Joynes says that he has always worked with audio and visual aspects, being being both a composer and director. However, it wasn’t until he learned about the field of somatics that he was truly intrigued by the relationship between sound and sight.

“It comes to the point that what you’re seeing is what you’re hearing, and the aesthetics come together,” says Joynes.

The term synchresis is best used to describe what Joynes’ art implies. It describes overlap between what is seen and what is heard.

“Even before I discovered the science behind it all, I’ve always been trying to explore sound and what it can envelop visually,” he says.

Joynes discusses his first attempt at this type of medium back in 2011, when he created a series of photographed sculptures that would react to patrons’ movements.

“There would be an accompanying frequency that would change depending on the person’s distance to the image,” says Joynes. “I used sonar proximity technology and have built on it since then.”

Joynes describes his art as a trial and error process.

“I have gone through 12 speaker assemblies in the last five years,” he explains.

Granted, it is not always loss of equipment that comes into play with this type of creative process. Joynes says that, due to most of his work being so detailed and frequency-based, there have been many instances of losing the perfect match in both sound and visual representation.

“These very brief perfect moments can happen, and if you’re not paying close enough attention, they can just drift away,” said Joynes.

The November exhibit at dc3 was a celebration of not only Joynes’ work, but also that of other artists who create similar pieces. The display was called Exhibiting Sound, and it included one of Joyne’s more recent works, Wavedrifting No.2., a visual representation of two grains of sand on a sound plate being blasted with corresponding frequencies that match one another until, eventually, the grains of sand become dust.

“That’s the magic point that I always keep an eye out for,” says Joynes.

The exhibit is not the last we’ll be seeing of Joynes’ work in Edmonton. Joynes mentioned that he is planning on using some of his work with local ballet choreographer Brian Webb in 2016.

Joynes’ work is a feast for the human brain. Its truly unique format is paving the way for other artists who want to explore more non-conventional means of artistic expression. The world can expect more from Joynes in the near future; we’ll just have to keep our ears to the ground and a sharp eye out.

Photo by Stephan Boissonneault.