Case study 11 / 16Focus Group Radio listening session / Live painting2025

Exotica

A painting created live over two hours in response to the rhythms, textures and atmosphere of an Exotica listening session.

(About the project)

Created during a two-hour Focus Group Radio Exotica listening session, the painting developed live in response to the music as it played.

Format: Live painting
Presented by: Focus Group Radio
Duration: Two hours
Later exhibited: Human Music

Painting through listening

Exotica is a mid-20th-century lounge genre known for lush arrangements, percussion and theatrical soundscapes inspired by imagined tropical and global settings.

Rather than working from a predetermined composition, Rhea allowed the changing rhythms, textures and atmosphere of the session to guide the work, completing the painting as the final song ended.

Rhea painting in response to music during the Exotica listening session. — 02Painting live

From session to exhibition

The resulting work later became part of Rhea's solo exhibition, Human Music, continuing her exploration of translating sound and listening into visual form.

The completed colourful abstract Exotica live painting. — 03Finished Exotica painting