Belson and the Whitneys both created visual music that led to the popularization of hallucinogenic imagery in popular media. They both created abstract films that took inspiration from eastern metaphysics. They broke free from the common painting medium of the time and eliminated representational imagery to pursue the theme of the cosmos and set art in motion. Their works aimed to act upon the body and mind, and allow the viewers to understand truths about the structure of the universe. By using visual music to express self-realizations, both artists wanted to use their light shows as a medium of spiritual knowledge. Belson and the Whitneys were able to weave images and music together more precisely than any other audiovisual artist before them.
John and James Whitney specialized in eight-millimeter films. Their sound was generated from the motion of a pendulum. They wished to use mandalic imagery to combine art, science, and spirituality. Eventually, the works became so popular that they were recruited to create geometric spirals for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Their works also inspired the artwork in other Hollywood productions such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Belson worked on images that were less technologic, but rather seemed to be based on natural phenomena. His work gained popularity when he was asked to develop a planetarium performance, Vortex, in which the imagery in a planetarium would dance to a wide variety of music. These planetarium performances challenged the typical separation between the artist and the art by blurring the lines of perception. Vortex successfully combined the likes of entertainment and art.
The Vortex concert series set the stage for a contemporary interaction between music and visuals. It inspired a collection of electric composers in San Francisco who ended up forming a group called the Sonics. They had teamed up with multimedia artists in order to have visual equivalents for their music produced. These light shows became art for events and concerts and served as a bridge between musicians and artists to connect. I believe this combination of music and art into interdisciplinary performances is highly prominent in contemporary nightclub and concert culture. These spaces of celebration and entertainment are defined by both the sound and light that fills them. This shows how the combination of music and art popularized by Belson and the Whitneys has had lasting effects.