On Kandinsky’s Musical Forms

o In this piece, Guiragos takes Wassilly Kandinsky’s piece Thirty (1937) and creates an original musical piece to accompany and describe it. The musical motifs are then scrutinized and explained in vivid detail as the story they and Kandinsky create is unfolded. Guiragos is then allowed to act as his own critic as he pinpoints his failures in the creative process and the bias which drew him to Kandinsky in the first place.

o This project was a rekindling of old interest (namely composition and its interaction with art) and served as a premier example of how to mix academic and personal work to create a cohesive final product. I include it in this portfolio because it is a work which, creatively, is completely different than any other research or academic paper I have finished. Its format was allowed to be completely open form, which allowed me to demonstrate musical interest and abilities in an academic form. Further, it challenged me to heavily deconstruct my own created art in a way that synthesizes the writing of acclaimed art visionaries (as prescribed by Professor Stobbs) with my own analysis. Lastly, it was an art project which was created under extreme time pressure, and I enjoy that it shows in the final work.