Composer, painter, broadcaster, natural scientist and academic, Edward Cowie, has returned to Australia to live after spending 28 years in the UK and Europe.
Considered one of the world’s most individual and original creative artists and communicator, Cowie is almost unique in his extraordinary blend of art with the natural sciences. He has made award-winning TV programmes and radio series for the BBC and ABC. He has conducted major orchestras and ensembles including BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and four of the ABC symphony orchestras. His music has been featured in major festivals worldwide including 5 times at the BBC Proms; featured composer at the Adelaide Festival and Brisbane Biennale. Awards include the Radcliffe International Composers’ Prize; Prix Italia (for his BBCTV2 film on Leonardo); Gulbenkian Award and a Chopin Fellowship. He has also performed as pianist in many public concerts and broadcasts.
Already extensively recorded, Cowie was signed on an exclusive contract with Metier Divine Arts Label in 2019. A steady stream of releases has brought universal praise. He is published by United Music Publishing, UK (UMP)
In addition to his musical activities, he is equally renowned as a visual artist with more than 40 one-man shows in seven different countries including The Royal Academy in London. His paintings and drawings are in public and private collections in 19 countries.
EDWARD COWIE
ARTIST STATEMENT
DRAWINGS TOWARDS MUSIC
Almost all of my music and visual creations are directly inspired by the Natural World- the creatures that live, move, dance and sing there- and the rich panoply of habitats all over the earth where they can be found.
From my very early childhood, before I could read and write music, I realised that the relationships between things SEEN and HEARD were incredibly close! Before I was five years old, I realised that I could actually draw the shapes of sounds in nature- from Babbling streams and pouring rain to the outpourings of birdsong and the chirping and bubbling sounds of insects and reptiles.
By the time I was beginning a serious career as a musician, I was also painting and drawing as a means of approaching any new musical project. Firstly, I had to walk, look and listen in wild places- carefully noting and drawing what I could see and hear there. These drawings were made in the field and on location and always included musical as well as visual notations.
The few works in this exhibition are examples of the kind of drawings I make in my studio when I get back from a field trip. They include specific living forms; land and seascapes; the movements of wild things and the constant dancing-patterns of things like water, clouds and wind. It is during this time of intense visual reflection and remembering that musical sounds begin to flood into my mind and senses.
These drawings are not just visual expressions but expressions of all of my (our) senses in an act of trying to respond to the marvels, mysteries and endless creative wonder of nature in action!