After viewing van Gogh’s work in Amsterdam in 1969, then theoretical physicist Gregory Horndeski picked up a paintbrush for the first time. While his work is clearly influenced by the famed painter, Horndeski’s work stands out from that of his peers due to his decision to put down the paintbrush and use a palette knife to create surrealist images with bold colors that can only be described as bridging the gap between the seen and unseen worlds. While many of his pieces contain musical notation, Horndeski himself cannot read music or what hear the depicted notes sound like he considers the notes themselves an interesting iconography and the musical notes he paints usual bear connection to the images they surround. Horndeski credits his highly energetic works to his use of fluid acrylic paints poured upon a horizontal canvas and then spread with palette knives so that the paint mixes on the canvas rather than on a palette. Horndeski does not do studies nor does he think about art history and where his work fits in within it– instead he stands in front of a blank canvas and the image as it should be painted appears to him.
