A well-known Belfast-born painter with a condition that enables him to hear colour, has created new artwork inspired by a traditional Irish music session.
Jack Coulter has produced the new work as part of a collaboration with Newry Irish whiskey bonder Two Stacks to celebrate Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Belfast.
The 32-year-old painter, who experiences synaesthesia, transposed the music of a group of Irish traditional musicians during a unique session in Two Stacks’ Newry warehouse, where he literally painted what he heard and tasted in real time.
The Belfast artist painted to a session led by Hilltown’s Matt McGinn, who performed a number of pieces and jigs, including ‘The Humours of Whiskey’, with a group of talented musicians.
Synaesthesia is an unusually diverse condition, where stimulation of one sense triggers experiences in another sense.
People who experience it can see colours when music plays or taste flavour when they speak certain words.
Coulter’s work translating music into paint has drawn the attention of Sotheby’s and collectors including Elton John, Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney.
His new artwork, produced during the session in the Two Stacks warehouse, has been used for a new limited edition Irish whiskey release entitled The Artist Collection Vol. 1.
Each of the new 300 bottles carry Coulter’s artwork on the label and a signed print of the original piece inside the box.
One lucky buyer will also find the one of the two original Coulter paintings on canvas itself, which will have significant collector value.
“I paint music essentially,” said Jack Coulter. “I have a condition which allows me to hear colours and see different colours coming from sound.
“Art, music and whiskey just fits perfectly,” he said. “It’s quite a unique collaboration and it’s quite rare to get that.
“I didn’t want to hear a rehearsal first. I was trying my best to depict what I was hearing so it was such a complex but subtle arrangement in a way.
“Being able to smell the whiskey and use the whiskey in my craft and my approach, I feel that was the perfect blend for me, and obviously having the music play, it was just a perfect circle.
“I was extremely happy with how the works turned out.”
The musical arrangement featured Gino Lupari on bodhrán, whistle player John Cunningham, Gareth Hughes on double bass and Matt Mancuso on fiddle.
“County Down is just blessed with some incredible traditional musicians,” said singer-songwriter Matt McGinn.
“We’re all coming from the same place of respecting tradition but we wanting to bring it in a fresh new light.
“The lads are taking hundreds of years of tradition and putting a new spin on it. Jack is looking at something that has been done countless different ways over the centuries in terms of art.
“But yet he’s taking a whole new stance that I’ve never seen before.
“So I wanted to take the tradition of music and the tradition of the song and bring a new element to it.”
Matt McGinn said he put his own ‘spin’ on The Humours of Whiskey, with the result he ended up writing his own song called ‘Humoured by Whiskey’ which the group also played during the session.
Reflecting on the unique session, Two Stacks’ co-founder Shane McCarthy said: “Whiskey, art and music, when we’re all in the one room, you realise how similar they all are… How mind-sets overlap in all these different creative worlds.
“This project is showcasing the newfound confidence with the generations that are in the island.
“I think for too long over the decades, over the century, there has been a little bit of a painting of Ireland being this kind of ‘fiddly dee, plastic Paddy and shamrocks’.
“We’re so much more than that.”
Mr McCarthy said anyone interested in purchasing a bottle should visit twostackswhiskey.com for more details.
