Danny Rolph: Le Stagioni : Viewing Room

Allegro 3

2024

Mixed media on Triplewall

120 x 181 cm | 47.2 × 71.3 in

Allegro 3 (2024) continues Rolph’s Triplewall series with the lively cadence suggested by its title. Painted elements drift lens-like across the surface, threaded by a fluid blue-teal ribbon that carries the eye through the composition. Collaged fragments and fine linear drawing generate counter-rhythms, shifting between background and foreground. A central oval form emits a soft glow that stabilizes the field and illuminates the surrounding space. The painting’s energy, color, and motion embody the spirited character of its musical namesake—dynamic, playful, and in full tempo.

Sonata 2 emerged after Rolph encountered an early composition by John Cage—written in 1933 while Cage was still a student and considered his earliest surviving work. Cage reportedly persuaded a Los Angeles Philharmonic clarinetist to perform it, only to be rejected on aesthetic grounds. Rolph saw an affinity in the way both the music and his painting operate outside formal constraints.

Across the surface, rhythmic fragments repeat and diverge, built through shared materials, symmetries, and layered interruptions. Translating Cage’s composition into visual form unfolded over six months, shaped by experimentation and response. Sonata 2 channels the exploratory spirit of the music into a vivid spatial field—chromatic, structured, and open to discovery.