Preludes — kirsten stromberg

Preludes and Fugues

The Well-Tempered Clavier

2021-2023. Oil paint on printed scores

Acts of re-covery and relation on printed scores of The Preludes from J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, sized in the original score folio measurements (30.5 x 48.3 cm each page). J.S. Bach helped lay the foundations for western harmony establishing certain structured tonal relationships and tuning systems. Throughout my childhood, I played pieces from The Well-Tempered Clavier as part of a daily practice. I love many aspects of their harmony and structure. I also wonder about another kind of living harmony, of things undone and in-relation: the colors of the river nearby my studio that change with the seasons, the shivering lines of the castaway plants along its shores, the rhythms and marks on the surfaces of bodies in nature reforming and falling apart. Can we listen to those as well? Within each mark, lies the J.S. Bach score, scraping out and re-covering. I chose Bach's Preludes because a 'prelude' is an opening to something. The ground from which something will emerge. A search for understanding balance, harmony, and well-temperament