Curator's Guide: LASM's "Harmonies in Color"

Elizabeth Weinstein, Director of Interpretation and Chief Curator at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, offers the ins and outs of the museum's new exhibition, "Harmonies in Color."

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Know Before You Go

Artists have long understood the power and allure of color. Ancient civilizations and native cultures used color intuitively, first in dyes and later as pigments. Scientists and artists since the time of Aristotle have published theories on color and its effects.

As art-making became more sophisticated, color eventually came to be thought of as one of the elements or building blocks used to create a successful composition. Color not only beautifies, but also helps us “read” images. For instance, an undulating form painted green might be read as a “hill,” but if it’s blue, it becomes a “wave.”

Following the atrocities of World War II, many artists did not want to express the horrors and hardship they saw, and instead tried to convey how they felt. They began to create abstract images, using color to express their feelings. For the first time, color became more than an aspect of art; color became the subject. This prompted artists to begin experimenting with color, exploring the sensual, visual, and physical reactions to color.

The artworks on view in Harmonies in Color were made by nationally recognized artists, and demonstrate various perspectives on how color is being used in abstract art today.

Harmonies in Color is composed of the exhibitions Six Contemporary Perspectives and Sound Is An Invisible Color: Christopher Janney. Organized by the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, both will be on view through March 1, 2020.

Things to Look For

Do you ever marvel at color charts in paint stores?

Artist Robert Swain devised a personal system of color, charting progressive shades of color organized by hue (a single, pure color), value (the lightness or darkness of a color), and saturation (the relative intensity of a color), resulting in 4,896 chromatic units. He numbered and recorded each one. He uses this chart as a guide to create paintings, some as large as 8 feet by 24 feet, composed of colored 12x12 inch squares.

How many colors make a rainbow?

In 1665, Isaac Newton described the spectrum, or the colors we see in a rainbow, as 7 distinct colors that today are often referred to as ROYGBIV—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. In the mixed media work of Jen Pack, however, a rainbow can be any combination of contrasting colors, opposing colors, or unexpected color combinations. Instead of pigment, she opts for dyed fabrics or thread. From September 13-15, you can watch Pack create a special immersive piece just for the exhibition made of about 1,000 multicolored threads.

Does blue make you feel calm? Does orange make you think of sunsets?

Color elicits memories and affects our emotions, even when we don’t realize it. Sanford Wurmfeld’s paintings saturated in incremental shades of color from light to dark are overlaid with a grid pattern that is slightly off-center, causing the eye to move around the canvas. The expansive, colored fields can be hypnotic if you take the time to sit and contemplate them.

What is the “visible light spectrum”?

It is the section of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum that is visible to the human eye, or in other words, the range of color that the human eye can see. Ranging only from red (700-635 wavelength) to violet (425-450 nm), our ability to distinguish color is limited. Yet, the chromatic spectrum achieved by Irene Mamiye in her digital works such as Rays are pure “eye candy.” The photographer took pictures of light passing through colored Plexiglas rods and then manipulated the images using a computer to create brilliant, multicolored compositions.

Can you hear color? Can you see sound?

Christopher Janney can. He refers to his multimedia work as “synaesthetic” in reference to synesthesia, a term derived from Ancient Greek that means “unity of the senses.” Janney’s series titled Invisible Color consists of cast and colored resin sculptures that emit sounds and musical notes when touched. If you listen carefully, you may recognize snippets of famous songs about color embedded in the line-up. Each time you touch, a new track plays; you won’t hear the same color twice!

[Read Country Roads' interview with artist Christopher Janney, here]

What about neutral colors, like gray?

When we think of color, “gray” often gets overlooked. But this is not so in the work of Gabriele Evertz, who has been exploring optical effects for years. By painting stripes in myriad variations of gray next to vibrantly colored stripes in red, yellow, or blue plus black or even white, her canvases, such as Six Gray + RYB, appear to pulsate when you stand in front of it.

Was Classical marble sculpture really not white?

Yes, Virginia, the Ancient Greek and Roman sculptors actually painted their white marble statues vibrant colors. Like marble, aluminum is often assumed to be left in its natural state; but, many sculptors like Pard Morrison prefer a painterly approach to  their finished products. Using a process he calls “patination,” Pard applies enameled pigment to his welded aluminum forms. A painstaking process, each colored pigment is baked separately in an industrial-sized oven, sometimes up to 14 times!

Don’t Miss!

LASM will celebrate its 34th Annual Gala titled CHROMA: Color Your Senses on Friday, September 20! The best party in town, the event will feature fine art, live music, food, drink, a grand raffle, and an exclusive silent auction. Tickets are still available at lasm.org/gala.

Wind down after work with a glass of wine at Art After Hours on Thursday, October 10, from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM. The event will feature a dance interlude by Of Moving Colors and an informal, curator-guided through Harmonies in Color.

Included in admission throughout Harmonies in Color are hands-on color activities for the young at heart and a special movie titled Cosmic Colors: An Adventure Along the Spectrum in the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium. And don’t miss the monthly Studio Saturdays, artist-led workshops for creators age 8-14 and their accompanying adults. Galleries are always free on First Sundays. More can be found at www.lasm.org.

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