Artist Shannon Novak uses colors and shapes to demonstrate different interpretations of sound. His exhbit will be on display at CentralTrak in Deep Ellum through Dec. 17. (Courtesy of CentralTrak)

Bright colors in neat geometric shapes cover the walls of the art gallery at CentralTrak in Deep Ellum, as the “One Song, Three Composers” exhibit takes over.

The installation is part of artist Shannon Novak’s study into the relationship between color, sound and shape. A New Zealand native, Novak is a visiting artist at CentralTrak, the University of Texas at Dallas’ artist residency and gallery. He has been working on the project for the past 18 months.

“Sound is something that is integral to everything,” Novak said. “I really wanted to explore that.”

A pianist himself since the age of 7, Novak has always tried to incorporate his music with his art.

“I starting drawing around the same time,” he said. “They have always paralleled each other and I could never really separate one from the other.”

Visitors to the exhibit are given a pamphlet written by Novak that breaks his installation down.

The first wall maps colors to musical notes. According to Novak, there have been multiple studies throughout history linking a particular color to a specific sound. He chose to single out three of these sound-color mapping systems with his exhibit: the Louis-Bertrand Castel, the Michael Smither and the Richard Merrick system.

“I’m bringing color back,” Novak said. “That’s something I always like to keep in mind with my art.”

As visitors follow the walls around the gallery, the visual representation of music notes is used to demonstrate musical chords and volume and to add time and rhythm.

Three pianos in the center of the gallery serve as the focal point of the installation, each representing a particular mapping system. The colors symbolizing the different notes in each system are marked on the pianos.

“The pianos are the birthing point from where the sound emerges,” Novak said.

The last wall is a sound field, filled with different visualizations of the music that could flow from the pianos.

The exhibit in Dallas is the starting point of a larger project by Novak. All schools in the UT system are displaying similar collections, but representing different sound fragmentations.

“One Song, Three Composers” will run at CentralTrak through Dec. 17.