Preludes 1 – 6

“Preludes 1 – 6” is comprised of six hand-painted and double-frame printed sections of 16mm film: 1) Turquoise and maroon-toned thin lines of paint are interspersed with variously toned circular “water-marks” of blotched paint giving way to multi-colored brush strokes which then thin to something akin to the beginning. 2) Interplay of toned rectangular shapes, vertical and horizontal and diagonal lines in juxtaposition with hardened darker shapes, which, gradually shift tone and lighten until ending on thin blues. 3) Many white interruptive frames and absolutely straight-edged multi-colored lines amidst “clouds” of color finally thickened into blobs with lengthy white (clear leader) spacing between them. 4) Much depth of multi-colored thickened shapes, which appear to be superimposed upon each other, semi transparent in their “weave” with each other which, is increasingly interrupted by ragged-edged blobs and smears of color. 5) This section is very similar to #4 except it is composed of extremely thin-lined colors and sharply delineated shapes, which are constantly interrupted by ‘cloud’ like forms. 6) Interplay of mostly horizontal lines interwoven with “water-mark” forms in a wide variety of tones, which gradually tend to dissolve into blues at the end. (Stan Brakhage)