A Colour Box – Len Lye (1935)

The cuban dance music and the light-hearted, flashy designs just makes one so happy. One thing that is unique about the audiovisual work is that it has specific shapes representing different instruments. Whenever there is the sound of trumpet, there’s a vibrating vertical line appearing in the middle of the image, which is magically in line with how I visualize the trumpet sound in mind — wining up vertically. The drumbeats are constantly in the background throughout the music, shown by the small arrays of dots. It is a very effective way to connect the audio and the visual in a tighter way, and the audience find it more enjoyable when what they see and hear match with each other.

I also fancy the medium used  in the work. Unlike the digital formats of most audiovisual works, this one was completely done by hand using watercolor. The colors are more variable with the change of thickness, and more vivid to watch and enjoy.