Counter Paint: the Art of Fugue

Released December 18, 2020

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Developed by Pascal Le Boeuf, Danny Clay, and the Friction Quartet, “Counter Paint: The Art of Fugue” is an interdisciplinary collaborative work that incorporates elements of classical music, collaborative painting, graphic notation, and improvisation to document a community of like minded musicians through the lens of a party game.

By combining concepts from Danny Clay’s “27 Overtures” with Pascal Le Boeuf’s collaborative approach to painting with groups of musicians, Clay and Le Boeuf engaged 34 composers and musicians to co-author a piece by approaching 27 canvases; each canvas includes four colors (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue); and each color represents an instrument in a string quartet (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello). As in a fugue, painters were asked to either visually develop a musical subject based on Beethoven’s Große Fugue as a basis for their contribution, or to expand upon the subject of another painter. As might be expected, additional games and experiments were introduced as the project developed. The resulting paintings were then interpreted graphically by Friction Quartet with directions from Clay and Le Boeuf.

Composed by Pascal Le Boeuf, Danny Clay, Friction Quartet, (Doug Machiz, Otis Harriel, Kevin Rogers, Taija Warbelow) Steven Mackey, Florent Ghys, Anna Pidgorna, Daniel Silliman, Emma O’Halloran, Gemma Peacocke, Matt McBane, So Percussion (Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha- Beach), Ninfea P. Cruttwell-Reade, Bora Yoon, Connor Elias Way, Tom Morrison, Natalie Dietterich, Juri Seo, Tamika Gorski, Molly Herron, Jenny Beck, Alyssa Weinberg, Anna Meadors, Chris Douthitt, Elliot Cole, Katelyn Halpern, Mike Mulshine, Kevin Eikenberg, and Annika Socolofsky.

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Friction Quartet, whose performances have been called “terribly beautiful” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “stunningly passionate” (Calgary Herald) and “exquisitely skilled” (ZealNYC), exists to modernize the chamber music experience and expand the string quartet repertoire. Friction achieves its mission by commissioning new works, curating imaginative programs, collaborating with artists, and presenting interactive educational outreach. Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) declared that Friction Quartet is “an artist who should be discovered” and described their performance as “high-octane music making…a fine blend of rhythmic ferocity and tonal flair.”

Danny Clay is a composer whose work is deeply rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and the sheer joy of making things with people of all ages and levels of artistic experience. ​Working closely with artists, students, and community members alike, he builds worlds of inquiry, play, and perpetual discovery that integrate elements of sound, movement, theater, and visual design. Children’s games, speculative systems, cognitive puzzles, invented notation, found objects, imaginary archives, repurposed media, micro-improvisations, and happy accidents all make frequent appearances in his projects. Recent collaborators include Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, Volti,  the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Wu Man, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen, and printmaker Jon Fischer.

Described as "sleek, new" and "hyper-fluent" by the New York Times, Pascal Le Boeuf is an American composer, pianist, and electronic artist whose works range from modern improvised music to cross-breeding classical with production-based technology. Pascal has played as support for D’Angelo’s Black Messiah tour and Clean Bandit’s Rather Be tour with Australian pop artist Meg Mac. He actively tours with jazz vocalist Allan Harris, Le Boeuf Brothers, the 15-piece gospel-funk band Jesus On the Mainline, and his piano trio Pascal's Triangle featuring bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Justin Brown. Pascal’s latest releases include “Mirror Image” with vocalist Bec Plexus (New Amsterdam), “Alpha” with cellist Nick Photinos (New Amsterdam), and “Imp in Impulse” with violinist Barbora Kolarova (New Focus Recordings).

Four/Ten Media is a partnership between filmmakers/percussionists Kevin Eikenberg and Evan Chapman. Kevin and Evan’s background as classically trained percussionists provides a unique musical awareness that permeates their creative video interpretations of compositions in contemporary classical and indie rock genres. Four/Ten’s client list includes internationally acclaimed artists such as Julia Wolfe, David Lang, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Sō Percussion, Michael Burritt, Tristan Perich, Robert Honstein, LA Percussion Quartet, Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), Bryce Dessner (The National), and many more. Their work has been featured by major press outlets including Alternative Press, NPR, Vic Firth, Evans Drumheads, Mental Floss, Paste Magazine, Q2 Music, and I Care if You Listen.