If you ever get the chance to see inside the home of a famous pop star, chances are you will find an artwork by Jack Coulter in a bespoke frame hanging somewhere. Among the Irish artist’s fans are Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, and Post Malone. Coulter creates stunning abstract paintings that are inspired by music.
The gift of synaesthesia
What makes Coulter’s work so special and unique is that he can literally ‘see’ the music he hears, because he has a condition called synaesthesia. This is a neurological condition that causes crossovers in the sensory pathways, such as seeing the colours and shapes of sounds, or experiencing a taste in response to a colour.
The specific experience of being able to interpret sounds as colours is known as chromesthesia, which is a form of synaesthesia. Coulter first realised that he had this condition when he was a child, and he saw vivid colours in response to his heartbeat.
In an interview with The Guardian, 30-year old Coulter recalls this moment: “I don’t remember much from being a kid, but that? It was so silent in the room that my ears homed in on my heartbeat. It’s usually black when you have your eyes closed but I could see colours.”
“I opened my eyes and the colours were there, pulsating in front of me – bright yellowy-orange, then circles of colour, like orbs. My own heartbeat was where all this started.”
A blessing and a curse?
Coulter is open and honest about the privileges and well as the downsides of his condition. It has enabled him to produce captivating artworks that are emotionally raw, vivid and immediate. He uses bold colours, abstract shapes and textures to create works that are reminiscent of Jackson Pollock and De Kooning, but also very much his in own style.
However, such heightened sensitivity to the everyday world can have drawbacks, and Coulter explains that he struggles with migraines and disrupted sleep patterns: “Everything in my head is colour. If I’m on the street or anywhere, it’s relating all sounds to colour. If I’m overstimulated, I’ll see colours so much more heightened and I’ll see pulsations.”
He adds: “That’s day-to-day. But when I’m painting, I see the colours so apparently. It used to scare me when I was young. I thought that’s what life was like, but then I realised it isn’t, for most people. The more I learned, it was, like: ‘This is quite a magic thing.’ So many people have synaesthesia in the creative arts.”
A wide range of inspirations
Coulter’s inspirations are wide ranging, from mainstream pop such as Taylor Swift, Elton John, and the Corrs, to David Bowie, Hans Zimmer, and Vivaldi.
He has also worked with the late Shane McGowan of the legendary Irish band The Pogues, to create a collaborative piece titled ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God.’ Coulter explains that Shane also had synaesthesia, so it seemed like a natural fit for the artist and the musician to work together.
He explains: “Shane was painting in a wheelchair – there’s a video of him doing it, and he’s painting to Fairytale of New York, If I Should Fall from Grace and many other Pogues tracks. All the stuff in the back is mine, and then all the madness, the Irish and the big eyes are by Shane.”
Coulter has also produced work in response to the music of Sinead O’Connor and Patti Smith. His artworks command significant interest when they are auctioned at Sotheby’s, and it is fascinating to contemplate what this young artist will achieve as his career progresses and his work develops and matures.
Coulter’s ability to show us a world that is normally hidden from view is exciting and invites us to experience unique boundary-crossing perceptions. It is unsurprising that he is one of the most popular young artists working in Britain today.