Nefertiti: New Works by John Squire

Working out of a converted barn seven days a week, John Squire made a point not to listen to music while painting. Quite ironic considering that he is arguably one of the best known British guitarists of the last 30 years. However, one morning when it was too cold to work in the barn, he took to painting in the house, listening to Miles Davis' Nefertiti.

Months later, seventeen glorious pieces, awash with bright colours and guitar tablature numbers, are hanging in the Henderson Gallery in Edinburgh, each bearing the title of a Miles Davis track. Using oil on canvas, board and paper, Squire transposed Davis’ trumpet notes into guitar tablature, and in doing so, encoded silent melodies into the paintings. With their vivid and intense post-impressionist colours, French Les Nabis painter Pierre Bonnard was an influence on this particular collection’s vibrant colour scheme.

Squire was recently commissioned by Penguin Books to design the 80s Decades book covers, and the engraved wooden block designs of prisms, triangles and chevrons continue in the graphic style of the Nefertiti collection.

Having avoided reference to his much lauded career as guitarist of the Stone Roses, this is the first reference to music in his time as a visual artist. Miles Davis and Squire himself were known for their distinctive melodious sounds, but Squire wanted to focus on the dialogue between lead musicians and the backing bands, hence the choppy and graphic design of most of the paintings. Where lead musical instruments frequently play centre stage, Squire was interested in portraying more edgy and chaotic backing music in this collection. Experimenting with paint, texture, surface and the chemistry of paint-making, this is a melodic study of colour and light.