Underworld Takes On the Art World

The list of contemporary musicians who have dabbled in visual arts projects is a formidable one. David Byrne has tried his hand at photography. Patti Smith was known for her forays into painting. And Joni Mitchell has exhibited her work as a painter, too. Now joining that tradition is the electronic music group Underworld, which during the next two weeks will present an installation at the Jacobson Howard Gallery. The project, which will incorporate several local artists, is the second in a series of multimedia presentations scheduled for exhibit around the world during the coming years.Since the 1990s, the leaders of Underworld — Rick Smith and Karl Hyde — have funneled their creative energy not only to the sound studio and stage, but also to an art design collective called Tomato. But theirs is not a case of a day job and a side hobby. While Underworld has released seven studio albums and has produced music for films including “Trainspotting” and “Sunshine,” Tomato, which includes seven other artists, has done gallery shows around the world and has produced commercial work for heavy hitters such as Levi’s, Microsoft, and Reebok. “It’s not a band doing art on the side,” co-founder of Tomato and Underworld creative director John Warwicker said. “The art is part of the fundamental creation of the music.”Indeed, Underworld formed after Messrs. Smith and Hyde met while studying art at Wales’s Cardiff University. After having produced music for several years, the two decided to resurrect their visual arts roots and shows of painting and photography, to which they invited fans of the band. “It was a huge success for people to come to a gallery because they liked our music,” Mr. Hyde said. “It was making a bridge. Pointing a finger in a direction and saying if you like us, check this out.”For Mr. Warwicker, the transition was about exploring the symbiosis of the two art forms. “We were talking about the visual component to music and the musical component to visuals,” Mr. Warwicker said. He provided an example of his own work.“When I am doing typography, it’s musical to me in terms of space and time, with the relative journey within a field or within the page,” he explained. “We started talking about it, and we’ve kept up that conversation ever since.”The dramatic growth of Internet music-sharing in the late ’90s helped further ignite the group’s interest in integrating visual art into their musical career, allowing them to produce downloadable albums with infinite capacity for accompanying artwork. “We thought maybe we can make this physical,” Mr. Hyde said of the virtual album artwork. “In Japan, we were given that opportunity.”In 2007, while in Tokyo to play a concert called the Oblivion Ball, the pair staged a 16-hour paint-a-thon at the convention center Makuhari Messe. The event combined four fellow artists, a 140-by-23-foot canvas, and 24,000 fans who watched. The work was torn down two hours after its completion.Their project at Jacobson Howard is equally ambitious, if not as impressively scaled. Over a two-week period, the artists will cover the walls of the gallery in drawings and fill the space with assorted multimedia, including painting, photography, and performance art. The preparation of the gallery for the show has been charted via 24-hour Web cam, as will the project’s progress over the two-week period.The project may prove logistically tricky for Messrs. Smith and Hyde, as Underworld is also in town to play the All Points West music festival at Liberty State Park in Liberty, N.J. Asked how he expected his collaborators to finesse their overlapping musical, artistic, and publicity obligations, Mr. Warwicker answered “taxis.”The band members will need more than taxis, though, when working on upcoming shows, as possible future venues include Australia, Tokyo (again), and even Mount Fuji. Mr. Warwicker said the group’s ambitions are a blessing and a curse. “Often your greatest strength is your Achilles heel, and we have inordinate problems because we can’t stop making things,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to stop and take a breath.”Until August 15 (33 E. 68th St. at Madison Avenue, 212-570-2362).

Underworld Takes On the Art World

Underworld Takes On the Art World

More from the New York Sun

Trump and Mamdani To Parley at Gracie Mansion Ahead of UN General Assembly Meeting

House Democrats Begin To Believe in a ‘Blue Tsunami’ as Senate Polls Show Tight Races in Traditionally Red, Swing States

The Best Place To Get Away From Detroit Is Detroit

New California Law Aims To Prevent Trump Allies From Deploying Guardsmen Into State

Angelina Jolie’s ‘Without Blood’ Fights On, Largely Unseen

Trump Arch To Act as Drone Warehouse, Military Installation

The Human Brain Is Actually Two Separate Organs, Stanford Study Finds

What’s Weird and Wonderful?

More from the New York Sun

Trump and Mamdani To Parley at Gracie Mansion Ahead of UN General Assembly Meeting

House Democrats Begin To Believe in a ‘Blue Tsunami’ as Senate Polls Show Tight Races in Traditionally Red, Swing States

The Best Place To Get Away From Detroit Is Detroit

New California Law Aims To Prevent Trump Allies From Deploying Guardsmen Into State

Angelina Jolie’s ‘Without Blood’ Fights On, Largely Unseen

Trump Arch To Act as Drone Warehouse, Military Installation

The Human Brain Is Actually Two Separate Organs, Stanford Study Finds

What’s Weird and Wonderful?