Bach… Six Suites for the Solo Cello

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road

In order to create this work Idris Khan photographed the sheet music of Bach's 'Six Suites for the Solo Cello'. He then digitally layered the images on top of each other, so that we can view the entire musical score on one page. Khan has made a series of works based on music, exploring the works of Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart, as well as Bach, to reflect the contrasting styles of music by each composer. Bach's music has strong roots in mathematics and the notes seem to be quite rhythmically dispersed on the page.

'Bach… Six Suites for the Solo Cello' has a haunting, ghostly quality; the blurred movement animates the piece and highlights the intense process of both the original score and the artist's re-creation. By appropriating an existing piece of music, Khan questions the extent to which it is possible to create anything new. He has said, 'it's obviously not about re-photographing the photographs to make exact copies, but to intervene and bring a spectrum of feelings - warmth, humour, anxiety - to what might otherwise be considered cool aloof image. You can see the illusion of my hand in the layering. It looks like a drawing. It's not systematic or uniform. The opacity of every layer is a different fallible, human decision'.

Born in Birmingham, Idris Khan graduated with an MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2004. Since then he has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at Victoria Miro Gallery, London and Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA), London, in 2006.

Born in Birmingham in 1978, Idris Khan gained a first class BA degree in Photography (University of Derby, 2000) and an MA in Fine Art (Royal College of Art, London, 2004). Khan has exhibited his work extensively including solo exhibitions in Gothenburg, Toronto, San Francisco and New York. He has received several awards including the Tom Gower Award from The British Institute of Photography in 2002 and The Photographers’ Gallery Prize in 2004. Commissioned works include wall drawings for Sadler’s Wells, London (2011–12) and the British Museum (2012).

Places

Subjects

music, cello, musical score, conceptual art

Materials & Techniques

photograph (as object name), lambda print

Artist

Idris Khan (1978 - )

Title

Bach… Six Suites for the Solo Cello

Date

2006

Medium

Lambda digital C-print mounted on aluminium

Dimensions

height: 242.00 cm, width: 176.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Victoria Miro, November 2006

Inscription

none

GAC number

18098