Synesthesia artist Jack Coulter creates ‘musical painting’ of Glastonbury 2016

Coulter hopes those who suffer from impaired hearing will appreciate his piece in particular

A 35mm shot of Jack Coulter’s synesthesia painting of Glastonbury, created in collaboration with music streaming service Deezer  (Jack Coulter)

Synesthesia artist Jack Coulter has turned the rare neurological condition that allows him to ‘hear’ colour and ‘see’ sound into a striking visual canvas for Glastonbury.

The 21-year-old teamed up with Deezer to create the bold painting after listening to a playlist of this year’s festival acts on the music streaming service. “I listened to the harsh dualities of each and every unique artist’s individual sound, responding to the specific songs that truly resonated with me emotionally,” he says. “I wanted to capture the beautiful atmospheric element of this year’s artists, while simultaneously paralleling the darker undertones of melancholy ambience.”

Coulter finds his condition difficult to explain to those with no experience of it. “The inner complexities of my synesthesia are truly incomprehensible - my life, vision and artistry are immersed in tetrachromatic iridescence,” he says. “I hope that my painting can heighten the public’s awareness of visual importance in a world of weightless polluted noise.”

Coulter is no stranger to combining the creative forms of art and music. Only last year, he provided artwork for singer-songwriter SOAK’s Mercury-nominated debut album Before We Forgot How to Dream. “When I listen to a piece of music, the bleeds of my visual auditory senses are in need of freedom, I feel the instant urge to birth a painting that represents what I am intrinsically and extrinsically experiencing,” he says.

“My visual interpretation of ‘sound’ within musicality is presently stimulated when I am soulfully, aesthetically and perceptively immersed within a specific musical composition or piece of music.”

Coulter, who has over 56,000 followers on Instagram, is excited to share what Glastonbury’s overall sound looks like to him and hopes that those who are unable to attend or suffer from impaired hearing will particularly appreciate his piece. “If my painting can induce a visual auditory experience of Glastonbury in even the slightest sense, that would be very special,” he says. “My visual auditory senses bleed in harmony to create an incomprehensible life form on canvas. I want this painting to be viewed as a sole visual of musical sign language.

“Overdosing on musical consumption is incredibly draining for me, I suffer from sensory overload. I wanted this painting to be special. Glastonbury is the largest music festival in the world and the greatest live music force in pop culture today. Pain is temporary, art is forever.”

Deezer has a feature called Flow that creates a non-stop, unique music experience for you, tailored to your individual taste. The streaming service boasts 40 million tracks and 40,000 podcasts.