Accelerate

IMG: rt4a, Accelerate, 2022, acrylic, KRINK marker and pencil on linen canvas, 34 × 99 × 5 cm
Accelerate

2022
Acrylic, KRINK marker and pencil on linen canvas
34 × 99 × 5 cm
RT4A2202
Courtesy of the artist

Audio
rt4a, Accelerate, 2022, 04’56” ©rt4a

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Accelerate is a classic studio experiment. It began with a bold statement on neon yellow; layer after layer, the statement sank under a polished, glossy black varnish, through which only ghostly traces rise. After the concealments and the questions, what remains is a word, revealed by the reflections of outside light and by the texture of the canvas.

The song of the same name follows the same course: a frenetic compression of the haunting Psycho score into a pulsating rhythm. Douglas Gordon stretched Psycho to twenty-four hours (24 Hour Psycho, 1993); Accelerate condenses Bernard Herrmann’s score twentyfold, to 04’56”.

The word ‘accelerate’, dropped in at intervals, recalls The Beatles’ avant-garde ‘Revolution 9’ (1968), and thousands of samples shift with each bar. The Wilhelm scream, a nod to the climax of Psycho, punctuates the song and quickens as it goes. On the canvas the word has to be found in the light; in the song it is repeated until the music does what it says. One title holds a hesitation and an acceleration.

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