PENETRACIONES: WITHIN OUR REACH

An artistic symbiosis - Bradfield's perspective

"In early summer, Anael and I received a note in our guestbook from a classical painter. There was something special in his message that encouraged me to seek him out but the allure was more than his work alone. His writings echoed so many of my own sentiments about art, there was such intensity and passion in his presentation. As our friendship began, hours went by without so much as a pause, sentences and ideas completed by the other so naturally it was magical. Only once before in my life has a similar rapport with another artist existed and I sensed even then that having him simply contribute artwork for an album cover would be far too trivial, so we agreed, "Let's plant the seed and see what comes forth from the earth...".

What soon would be born has exceeded all my expectations. With a promising concept and a deadline that would test every ounce of our capacities, we began to create this new world. Each time I visited his studio, new canvases would appear with characters in our evolving storyboard. I would leave at 3 am feeling energized, rising the next day to create more music. Both of us fed off the other, touching upon so many facets of artistry that the energy carried us higher and higher. As the weeks unraveled came the centerpiece: The First Supper - his tenth painting and one so ambitious in scope that it could only have come at the end, built upon the entire foundation of our collaboration. A visual extension of the symbiosis we shared, at once an homage to the past, a wink to the present and a giant step forward.

Ultimately, the name of our project itself helped to make such wondrous things possible in tangible form. Affirming the possibility of being, celebrating the quest for higher consciousness, in all ways it became a lexical catalyst for this enchanted new realm now, truly, within our reach".

- Bradfield, November 2004

An artistic symbiosis - LorAnge's perspective

I was flattered when Bradfield approached me with the idea of this project and I agreed to collaborate. As we advanced into the realization of this unusual venture, nights got longer, time started running faster but our enthusiasm never ran out of breath, in fact it kept breathing new unsuspected life into this world we were creating together. What was initially to be about forty minutes of music and six paintings soon grew into seventy minutes of fantastic dream music and ten new art works. Endless days of work, conversations and visions that became clearer went into the making of Within our Reach. Imagine Bradfield composing and arranging some music alone in his studio while I’m struggling in mine with a painting that I intend to call Heaven & Earth Spirits, then in our next phone conversation, he tells me he’s written a piece while I was painting, plays it over the phone and musically it describes the environment of the work he has not yet seen. Coincidence? By this time we both knew better, the artistic symbiosis was amazing indeed and from then on it kept growing. Surrounding his studio and himself with my initial paintings as I submerged myself into the listening of his first mixes of music. Anecdotes demonstrating this symbiosis between us are many, like my vivid dream of the cover as he did graphic work that corresponded in so many ways to it.

What a challenge we took on but how wonderful it feels for Bradfield and I to listen to this record and see these paintings now. Magic was with us, indeed!

- LorAnge, November 2004