A Strange New World: The Art of Ólafur Eliasson
Fig. 1, Olafur Eliasson, The Weather Project, 2003. Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern (London). (Image Source: David Firn, Flickr Commons)...
The Dark Spectrum II : Bands of Color
This is a sequel to my previous post, “The Dark Spectrum I: Goethe and the Imaginative Interrogation of Color,” . In that post, I...
The Dark Spectrum I: Goethe and the imaginative interrogation of color
Though often dismissed as misguided and ill-informed, in terms of its scientific understanding of the physics of light, Johann Wolfgang von
Do You Dream In Color?
The question “Do you dream in color?” is one that most of us have probably been asked, or have considered at some point. If so, what...
All The Colors We Cannot See: Tetrachromacy in Humans
One million colors, that is the approximate number the typical human eye can see [1]. This is due primarily to the fact that our eyes...
The Seurat Delusion: When theory overrides experience
In the history of painting, the work of Georges Seurat (1859-1891) stands out as being a unique synthesis of both science and art, as...
Gray Matters: How Gray Changes How We Think
Gray is not a popular color. For many, it is considered drab, boring, non-committal and ‘safe’ - the very essence of conformity. On...
The Shape of Perception: The Art of James Turrell
You enter a cylindrical structure through a rectangular door. Inside the space is simple and empty; no ornamentation, just a minimalist...
There’s a Word for That: What nail polish can teach us about color perception
Let’s start with a simple question. What color is the square below? Is it blue or green? This question was posed to ISCC members in the...
Women of Color: Mary Gartside and Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
In “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” (1971) [1], feminist art historian Linda Nochlin turned the commonly accepted ideas of...
How Art Got Its Colors: The Alchemists
Today’s artists are spoiled - for choice that is. Go to any well stocked art supply store and you will be confronted with hundreds, if...
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Can colors be considered good, or bad or ugly? Maybe not in any absolute sense, but there are instances within which we might assign such...
Stop & See the Roses
In the arts, a distinction is often made between looking and seeing. Looking is referred to as a passive act where we simply glance at...
Men In Black: Chromophobia in Western Culture
Color is a code, a sign, a message –we use it to communicate and in turn it has the power to shape how we think and feel. For the last...