Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

    Windows 12 , 24x36 digital print on archival matte paper in 26x38 thin black frame. Compilation of all 12 Windows on the east elevation of the Oak Park Public Library, from the Chromatic Windows project.  The color series of 6, beginning with light blue and ending in black, repeats across all 12, as a metaphor for the chromatic scale in music. The series of 6 as a musical metaphor is a whole tone scale, which is a scale comprised of whole tones (1 step). $500 (Other sizes available) Inquire

One of my musical metaphor pieces based on the Intervals series--in this case an augmented octave, which is essentially an octave displaced by one semitone, commonly known as a minor ninth or "flat nine". The shape of the octave in the series is a perfect circle. The offsetting or overlap of the circle (as in a Venn diagram) is its "augmentation". How the two circles interact with each other is different for each piece. 8x10 Giclee prints available (as triptych only). Contact me if you would like a set. 1. Augmented Octave No. 1: Color Burn 2. Augmented Octave No. 2: Lighten 3. Augmented Octave No. 3: Luminosity Using the music metaphor to images of the Moon and phase-shifting and intervals ("double-stops"). #2014 #minimalism

Partch 29x20 inches, acrylic and pastel on rice paper $250 Abstract homage to composer and theorist Harry Partch. It has a quasi-oriental quality, perhaps relating to the microtonal nature of some Japanese music. #2015 #curves #WaterColor

Recent iterations: System of a Sound at Australian National University, where weather data is correlated music moods.   *** Weather Music While sitting on the porch, listening to the wind chimes, I wondered if there was a way I could make music by correlating changes in wind speed with certain musical elements via MIDI. For example, when wind speed increases, tempo increases; or when wind speed increases, volume increases. There would be many possibilities because you could correlate any meteorological event with any musical event. A program could be written whereby you could compose different sets of rules and the music would be automatically generated according to those rules. You could save them as presets, such as "sunny and warm" or "bitter cold and windy" or "storm approaching". Using a portable weather monitoring unit, weather data could be collected and fed into the music real time. If there is a way to radio transmit the data, it ...

   Solo piano improvisations in the Lydian mode for all 12 keys, following the circle of fourths. ***    The purpose of the exercise was to see what I could do manually as an improvisation using a constraint (the Lydian Mode), then create an algorithm to do the same thing. Musical improvisation is one of the highest forms of free will. It will show what is pure free will, simply playing anything on the piano for example. Someone who knows how to play will make some kind of coherent music. Someone who has hardly touched a piano may play on the black keys. The acid test is whether it has musical value. AI could be used to do the same thing and would sound like music, as it has a basic instruction. In contrast, the programming to do the same thing seems completely unrewarding. Even though my piano skills are mediocre, and my implicit knowledge of music well-developed, the music that is human-made is good enough for me. If a non-musician can do it bette...

Macrophage V 13.5 x 19 x .75, mixed media on panel. Fifth in the series ("M5").  $555 Inquire Possible Universals, with associated pages in the CONTINUA-TION book: Continua (119) Intertwining (111) Logical notion of part/whole (177) Numerals (counting) (132) Tying material (90) #2019 #text #texture #neodada #layered

                                        STRATEGIES GAME [3/2026: I have imported them into an LLM , and you can now use prompts to get song "recipes", to wit, Prompt: Create a strategy for a song using an entry form each of the categories and create a list. Abstraction : Turn on a radio stream and integrate something you heard into the work (such as news, a commercial, or music). Arrangement : Start with a title before beginning the composition. Dynamics : Use a Soft to Loud progression throughout the piece. Harmony : Use no thirds in your chord structures. Key : Set the song in G major/E minor . Melody : Compose a melody using 5 notes . Meter : Use a 6/8 time signature. Mood : Incorporate expansive strings to define the atmosphere. Rhythm : Ensure the bass never plays the downbeat . Style : Produce the track in an Ambient style. Tempo : Set the pace to Medium: 80-128 BPM. Topi...

Light Bass 11x14 Print Light rays through a grating, as a metaphor for a 4-string bass. Prints Available #2014 #angles #black&whitephotography

Interval Cubes Acrylic on panels P.O.R.    Inquire Download symbol (block) grid. (Adobe Illustrator) 12 cubes (6x6x2) for each interval in the chromatic scale using only black, white and red. Can be displayed on a shelf, or hung on a wall. Each cube is currently prepared for shelf display with felt on the back edges to prevent cubes from scraping. The cubes can also be tiled together in different ways like building blocks to teach chords and intervals. A very unique work done in the style of Josef Albers or Alexander Calder. Work is fully documented on its own website for information and archival purposes. Cube 1. Unison Cube 2. Minor Second Cube 3. Major Second Cube 4. Minor Third Cube 5. Major Third Cube 6. Perfect Fourth Cube 7. Diminished Fifth Cube 8. Perfect Fifth Cube 9. Minor Sixth Cube 10. Major Sixth Cube 11. Minor Seventh Cube 12. Major Seventh A symbol grid in Adobe Illustrator [Download .ai file] Drag symbols (blocks) and rearrange/rota...

Sevenths (2014) 36" x 2.5" x .75" Acrylic on plywood $357 (Third, Fifth, Seventh)   As a part of the Intervals series, a wall sculpture of abstract representations of the intervals of major and minor sevenths. #geometric #minimalism #red #vertical             Photograph of the piece (2021):    

New Kithara (2015) 19.75"x25.25" acrylic on paper $500 or best offer Abstract expressionist painting partially inspired by the alternately-tuned instruments of Harry Partch . #angles #pastel #pink #orange #blue #yellow #metaphors #music #layered

An exploration in musical symmetry. C | C# | D | Eb | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B Prints available for any or all pitches   As vector art, prints are available at any size and in any color sequence. I am using a 6-color sequence as 5x7 digital prints in this version, but any sequence greater than 3 can work, although it will affect how the sequence iterates through the shape sequence. *** Just like they've done with Mondrian, the art is now emblazoned on cups/mugs: Chromatic Cups You can purchase the entire set of 12 or any intervals that you like. For example, you can purchase a set of four based on an E7 chord, E, G#, B, D (include the G if you want E7(#9). At the moment, enharmonic equivalents aren’t available. For example, only C# is not available as Db. Let me know if you would like equivalents and I will make them for Eb, Gb, Ab and Bb. I recommend the diminished and augmented sets because the intervals are all major or all minor, and you will need only 5. (...

3 Against 4 (Photographs) (2013) Triptych of black and white photographs of the 3 Against 4 Sculpture. (8 x 10 inches) Prints on request #angles #shadows

4 Against 3 (2015) 20x30 inches, gouache and color pencil on rice paper An abstraction of 3 Against 4 , using 4 shapes and 3 colors. The 4-circle grouping is a "quotation" of the 4 bolts in the center of the sculpture. Piece is for sale. Make an offer. $450 or best offer

25.75x18.5 inches, acrylic on paper A piece done with a constraint of primarily vertical interrupted shapes and lines. Piece is sold but prints are available . I am involved in music as much as I am in art, and sometimes I reuse titles. In 2016 I composed Continuous  Interruption , released on the album Ancient AI . Each piece riffs off the idea of a continuous interruption of lines/bass lines. #2014 #vertical #colorful #layered 1599. It's okay to be distracted if all the things you're distracted by cohere with whatever you're engaged with, and what you are naturally aligned to. David Bowie always talked about having the attention span of a goldfish, but not to a fault: all the distracted interests served the same goal of self-actualization. Curiosity is in some sense a continuous state of distraction, often understood as simply being 'alive'.

Rifts (Symmetry Breaking) 29.75 x 19.5 inches, metallic acrylic and pencil on folded black rice paper $350 or best offer A visual corollary of my album of solo piano music of the same title, using a geological metaphor. #2018 #fragmentation #layered