Sound & Color

Sound & Color paired seven contemporary abstract painters with a piece of piano music of their own choosing: a concerto, a symphony, a nocturne, a jazz composition or even a pop song. Sugarlift mounted the exhibition in partnership with High Line Nine and Steinway & Sons, taking a cue from Wassily Kandinsky, whose synesthesia for sound and color shaped his dynamic painted compositions.

The painters were Christopher Dunlap, Evan Venegas, Dana James, Josh Jefferson, Robert Szot, Svetlana Rabey and Vicky Barranguet. A Steinway grand stood in the gallery in front of the dark title wall, and the artists' playlists were programmed into a Steinway Spirio, the player piano that played through the run of the show.

The masked opening reception on October 15, 2020 centered on a live performance by Gustavo Casenave, the Latin Grammy-winning composer and pianist, whose wife, Vicky Barranguet, was one of the painters in the show.