About Cantata 4
Three bands of indigo are enlivened by a stacatto of fine dashes and orthogonals in crimson, white and gray in this lyrical composition by Burton Kramer. This precise yet lively composition on a periwinkle ground titled Cantata reflects the intersection of music, color and form. A cantata from the Italian verb cantare (to sing) is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Kramer has observed that his lyrical abstractions "do not abstract the experience of reality, as we know it. They provide the viewer with an alternate for reality, just as music often does."Like 20th century European painter Wassily Kandinsky, renowned for his experiments with synesthesia of color and music, Kramer explores the language of visual forms and sound. Kramer trained at Yale University (MFA), The Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (BSc), The Royal College of Art, London (Fulbright Scholar) and The State University of New York. He gained international success with a number of group and solo exhibitions in North America and Europe. He is one of Canada's most influential graphic designers. Notably, Kramer designed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation logo in 1974. In 1999, Kramer received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Arts Ontario and in 2002 was awarded ‘The Order of Ontario’ by the Province and an Honorary Doctorate from Ontario College of Art & Design. His work is in many private and public collections including the Royal Ontario Museum.
