Chris Gentes is a visionary artist, musician, and independent researcher whose work maps abstract systems into visual and audible form. His recent series, Modes, Scales & Keys, creates a complete taxonomy of tonal relationships in 12-tone equal temperament. Through systematic paintings, databases of 507 scales, and live performance, he makes the full, often overlooked territory of musical possibility visible and navigable.
Monographs for Modes, Scales & Keys
Modes, Scales & Keys IV – Describes painting and music theory (pdf)
Group 15 – Describes painting and lists all dominant modes (pdf)
Modes, Scales & Keys — Improvisatory Form One — Piano Recording
Groups 1-4: Modes, Scales & Keys, Form One https://youtu.be/4AMm_d-6sZM
Groups 5-8: Modes, Scales & Keys, Form One https://youtu.be/CB88LDVqh1c
Groups 9-12: Modes, Scales & Keys, Form One* https://youtu.be/fJ9HKjG5oPY
Groups 13-16: Modes, Scales & Keys, Form One https://youtu.be/ipqzU1iqEhY
This musical form was created to explore the complete set of tonal relationships contained and mapped in the painting
Modes, Scales & Keys IV. It is a structured method for moving through the tonal centers so the ear can hear the differences the system organizes. The general sequence is: C Major, Group, b2, #1, C Major.
Chris Gentes: Piano, *Electric Piano
Color Synthesizer Videos
Python/midi keyboard controller software invention. click link to watch on youtube. 2025
Color Synth 1
125 Birds of Mars Album Covers (featuring video still from the color synth)
Color Wheel 1 (Color Synthesizer Demo)
Background Color Changer Demo
Denominator Tuning System (DTS)
A Unified Model of Natural Tuning December 2025
to download the complete DTS Overview (pdf file) click here
The Denominator Tuning System (DTS) organizes musical intervals into independent groups based on a fixed denominator d, where d is a positive integer starting from 1 and increasing incrementally to 16.
A long-time participant in the New England visionary art scene, Gentes was a member of the Boston Visionary Cell in the 1990s and exhibited alongside Paul Laffoley. His practice continues the lineage of artists who build rigorous visual architectures for complex knowledge systems. While music-specific precursors are rare, visionary and outsider artists have a long tradition of mapping abstract systems into dense visual diagrams. Gentes’s project extends this continuum into the domain of tonal space while remaining rooted in the New England visionary milieu he has participated in for decades.
Key predecessors include:
Paul Laffoley (Boston, 1935–2015) produced large “architectonic thought forms”—mandala-like diagrammatic paintings dense with geometric structures, color coding, and extensive annotation. He mapped interdisciplinary systems and founded the Boston Visionary Cell.
Alfred Jensen (1903–1981) created brightly colored grid paintings that turn numerical and cultural systems (Mayan calendars, Pythagorean series, I Ching, magic squares) into visual order.
Emma Kunz (1892–1963) made large geometric drawings on graph paper that map energy fields and natural laws as diagnostic and meditative tools.
Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) pioneered large-scale abstract series mapping spiritual hierarchies and cosmological systems.
Chris Gentes
413.588.1040
ChrisGentesArt@gmail.com
Selected Art Exhibitions/Video/Events
1991-1994 Planet 3.9 Video Show, BNN-3, Boston Cable. A weekly video arts show. Producer, editor.
1992 Lamproneiro: Art & the Lucid Dream, Fine Art Exhibition with the BVC at FRB Gallery, Boston. Artist.
1993 Mona Lisa Project, Moraine Gallery, Jamaica Plain. Artist.
1995 Frontierism: A Return to Culture, Transportation Building, Boston. Director, producer, artist.
1996 Somakatologian: Mind Physics, Group Exhibition with the Boston Visionary Cell. Artist.
1998 Group Exhibition including Paul Laffoley, Mark Bode at Pahana Gallery, Northampton. Curator, Artist.
1999 Retrospective of paintings at Pahana Gallery, Northampton. Artist.
2005 Bird photography exhibition with 17 exhibitors at Forbes Library. Concept, curator, photographer.
2010 “Best of Cottage Street” Easthampton Plein Air Festival. Artist.
2011 Scenes of Northampton at the Woodstar Cafe. Artist.
2012 “Dreamscapes” at Woodstar Cafe. Artist
2013 “Piece of Cake” Group exhibition at FOE Gallery, Northampton. Artist.
2013 “Recent Stencil Art” at Salon 241. Artist
2014 Dust Bunny Exhibition for Cirque/Meat for Tea. Group exhibition. Curator, Artist.
2014 “Recent Work” Sam’s Pizza. Artist.
2016 “Changing” Group show Greenfield Community Center. Artist.
2017 Paradise City Arts Festival, Northampton. Exhibitor.
2018 Birds of Mars Multi-Media Event, The Parlor Room, Northampton. Organizer, filmmaker, musician.
2019 Birds of Mars Multi-Media Event, The Deuce, Northampton. Organizer, filmmaker, musician.
2019 Birds of Mars, Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton. Organizer, filmmaker, musician.
2022 The Birds of Mars Video Show. Scenes & Music for Films. A weekly documentary of interesting things.
2023 Woodstar Cafe. Recent Art. Ongoing Exhibition.
Selected Publications
1996–1997 Shape of Art/Art Now. Zine format.
2010 “Fourteen Watercolors of Vegetables and Fruits” Art catalog of recent series.
2011—2014 TagoZine, Street Art photo journal (digital only). Publisher, editor, photographer, writer.
2012 “Northampton Dreamscapes” Art catalog for Woodstar show.
2016—2017 Modern Pochoir. Art catalogs for a series of artworks using an airbrush.
2019 “The Birds of Mars Reader” A book about the Birds of Mars multi-media project. Edition of 20.
2020 “The Alt Lit Library” A series of collectible ‘art books’, each written in two weeks. Editions of 50.
2020—2021 Birds of Mars Digest (printed). Editions of 50.
2021—present Birds of Mars Digest (digital). A publication which documents all of my artistic activities.
The Birds of Mars Digest (2020-present)
A yearly digital publication documenting my projects.
Link to list of all digests
Chris Gentes 