PARTICIPATION
Gallery Show On-site June 7 – July 5
Artificial Synesthesia
Rychard Cooper works and teaches in the fields of sound design and electronic music. His visual art is an extension of these practices. The synthesizer has the ability to manipulate sound in ways that are acoustically impossible, creating textures and perspectives that do not exist in the real-world. Cooper has pushed his visual art in a similar direction, using optical illusion, ultraviolet light & holographic paper to play at the limits of perception.
Fascinated by the Op-Art movement in the 1960’s, especially with the work of Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, Cooper often experiments with geometric designs and fluorescent paint. The music of minimalist composers like Steve Reich & Philip Glass with their interlocking symmetrical patterns are also a big influence on Coopers work
In the late 1970’s, Cooper was captivated by the rainbow refractions bouncing off the holographic bumper stickers that were suddenly everywhere. He found that he could buy rolls or sheets of “Space-Tape” for decorating skateboards, so he started a collection. The became easier in the 1980s when holographic gift wrap and gift bags became popular. Cooper now draws from a collection of thousands of different colors and patterns for his collages.
Performing with SynthLab
Rychard Cooper holds a degree in Audio Engineering from Long Beach City College, and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Composition from the Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. He has twice been awarded the Don Andrus Prize in Electronic Music.
In 1999 Rychard began teaching classes in music technology, music theory and composition for the California State Summer School for the Arts, (CSSSA). This is a Summer-Arts school for gifted high-school students, taught on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts. In 2002 he became the head of the composition program and from 2008-2010 served as the chair of the CSSSA music department.
In 2000, Rychard created the recording program at Cypress College, where he taught classes in audio engineering and record production.
He has also worked professionally as a recording engineer, producer, sound designer, and has contributed to the design and construction of many recording studios in the Los Angeles area.
Rychard is currently a professor at CSULB where he teaches classes in Music Technology, Electronic Music, Sound Design, and Digital Media. He has also created a class called Digital Ethics, which explored the concept of intellectual property in a digital world. This class has been offered as part of the Odyssey Project, and the B-Word Project for the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts.
In the fall of 2009 Rychard worked with the University Art Museum as an assistant to Brian Eno as part of the 77 Million Paintings exhibition.
In addition to his teaching position, Rychard is the Media Production Specialist for the Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB.
Co-founder of SynthLab
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