The neurological condition synaesthesia is often seen as nature’s genius button. Vladimir Nabokov, Duke Ellington, Arthur Rimbaud and Pharrell Williams are among those who have had, or have, the condition that sees people mix up their sensory perceptions – feeling sounds or tasting shapes, for example. Chromesthesia, in particular, means individuals involuntarily see colours when they hear sounds (and even when they don’t).
It is this out-of-the-ordinary ability that has made Northern Irish artist Jack Coulter one of the most popular and unusual abstract painters emerging today. He is especially celebrated for his links to music – his work can be found in the art collections of Paul McCartney and Patti Smith. He was asked to paint the entire line-up for the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, and a recent commission for the Freddie Mercury Estate found him interpreting the 1985 track Mr Bad Guy according to his unique perception of colours through sound.
