The reading this week (reading 6: Hanunoo) is from a book called Chromophobia (2000, Reaktion books), written by the British scholar, sculptor and installation artist, David Batchelor. (the image here of one of his pieces). This book is from a series of short works called "FOCI" (focus on contemporary issues) which, according to the book jacket:
"address the pressing problems, ideas, and debates of the new millennium . . . these books are combative. They offer points of view, take sides and are written with passion."
"Chromophobia" deals with the idea of color - unearthing a wide range of arguments and anecdotes that form/inform the idea of color in contemporary thought.
Color - as a complex visual phenomenon and cultural idea - is an exciting area for exploration in ceramics.
As material phenomenon Ceramic glazes yield color in really interesting ways - and I think it's important to think about the way that factors like texture, thickness, clay composition, etc. effect the way we "read" the color of a surface.
As cultural phenomena, even if we're not conscious of associating certain color use with some of the ideas that Batchelor discusses in this reading (with a kind of "Orientalist" idea of the east, exoticism, or with surface and superficiality) I think that they are lingering below the surface - a part of the way we experience color as it is used in advertising, graphic and product design.
11 comments:
This entire article was an extremely engaging dissection of all things "chroma". The beginning snagged my attention with the discussions around gems- an imagery I often include or hint at in my work. I enjoyed the statement "gems come from the earth, but connote artifice and decadence". The idea of something being entirely generated by nature, possessed by humans, and prescribed with material value which in turn produces an entire world of manufactured imitation seems like the purest idea of glamor.
I have always had a fascination with jewels and the geometric shaping of organic materials. Perhaps it is because the gem is looking at me, with its own power source, with a "gaiety and sparkle of color." The idea of gems and stones representing what is beyond language is basic and refreshing. Colors' evocative nature produces indefinable feelings and emotions that words can only contest, not equal. The closest attempt at classifying this feeling is presented by Jacqueline Lichtenstein: coloris- the pleasure feeling from looking at color.
Attempting to describe feelings of coitus, love, passion, can only exist within the lines of language, the cage of the "colored soul". So it is my conclusion, after reading this essay, that the power of color stretches beyond words, beyond description, and into a contemplative place in the human psyche.
this article was very interesting since i never expressed color and language together. it is obvious that color and shapes have their own separate place in our world, and that language and lines divide and bound those colors and shapes. i liked how the article referred to the "other world" when discussing the gems and their color and shapes. like tyler, i also have a some what fascination with gems and could relate to that "other world". the colors grab my attention the most, since color is a very important aspect of my work. i feel in general, color is probably one of the most important aspects especially with contemporary art, along with the language and lines that are associated with it.
Its not uncommon for me to launch into a lecture about color with an unsuspecting acquaintance prompted by a comment of the slightest relevance. Color and color theory happens to be a passion, even obsession of mine. Needless to say, I found this article to be very interesting.
In response to the idea that color not only defies language but is of another world, my initial thought was that many, many things defy language in a similar way. All of the sensory world is difficult to describe in words; I realize this every time I try to describe what someone looks like (well, she is a girl of average height with medium length brown hair and a nice nose… narrows it down really well, right?) or what genre of music a band falls into or what a food taste like to someone who hasn’t tried it. And of course descriptive words for color and anything else have different meanings and boundaries in different languages, so every language has historical and cultural histories framing its connotations, boundaries of expression, and poetic nuances that just don’t translate.
That being said, in many ways color exists in a totally different world (and even if it weren’t such a unique “thing,” exploring it from a cultural, philosophical and linguistic standpoint is bound to be fascinating.) To me, color is the most transitory, elusive, and subjective thing in existance. It functions extremely differently in different media (paint, print, light), and even once you have “a color” it looks different in different contexts, under different lights, next to different colors, carries different connotations for different people and in different parts of the world, and is physically seen differently by the huge portion of the population with partial color-blindness. I loved the section of this article discussing the arbitrariness of the division of color into colors (or dare I be English and say “colour into colours”) from Newton adding “indigo” to the rainbow to have the number of colors match a music scale (a similarly arbitrary separation of a sound-wave continuum instead of a light-wave continuum? I don’t know enough about sound or music scales to claim that as an accurate comparison) to the study done about the actual ranges of colors on a grid spectrum that were identified by speakers of different languages as best representing basic color terms. I enjoyed linguistic understanding of color names that I gained from this and would love to learn more about that study. I am especially entranced by the existence of a green-yellow no-mans land on the spectrum of color language.
Some variation in the linguistic divisions of color by language is to be expected, such as the existence of a word for blue and light blue in Russian comparable to our words for red and pink. However, I was delightfully surprised to learn about the color classification words of the Hanunoo language to be based not on relative hue but by value, “wetness”, and “freshness”. I have, in a linguistic anthropology class I took a few year ago, studied the Berkin-Kay hypothesis that basic color names are added to natural languages in the same order, and it sparked my interest enough that I still remember the order of those colors. This article, I felt, picked up where that interest was piqued and ran all over the place for me, approaching the linguistics of color much more delightedly, complexly and comprehensively.
I found this reading very interesting and insightful. The idea of color as a language never really donned on me before but as I read on it really makes sense and made me think of the world a little different. I think as we grow up and expound our vocabulary we start taking color for granted. I think sometimes color just doesn't wonder us as it used to but, if you take a second and just look at all the color around us all day everyday it is amazing. Color in gem form wows us so much, I think because in most gems it is like color in solid form. We get to use color and touch colorful things but a gem is like holding pure color in a sense.
About half way through, the part about the man in the yellowish-green jacket and the guy making all his heroes in the same color was really interesting to me because color can mean so many things to so many different people. For example the color yellow could mean bashful and young to one person and to another it could read courage and purity.
I also never really thought of color as our first language but its very true. When we are little probably one of the first things we learn is green means go and red means stop. This reading as really opened my eyes a little wider to the importance of color and im going and try to think more about my color us in my pieces more.
I too found this article extremely engaging. As I was reading, I was trying to envision when and where I had seen color in its purest form...I was immediately brought back to my childhood. As I read on, this idea was put into words, "...if not for a language-free universe then at least for a world in which language has not yet fully established its grip on experience;this world is also, more often then not, saturated in color." Have we truly fallen out of color and into line? As an artist, I feel like I should be able to maintain a grip on not only experience but also a world saturated by color. This article has definitely made me contemplate how effective I have been in this role.
I'm torn about where my opinion falls within the realm of accessing this color intensity. If we have all been tainted by the world around us, leaving us unable to enter the world outside the system of conceptual thought, then how are we able to understand what we're missing? According to the article, both Huxley and Blanc view "language" and "precious stones" as
different realms...whether you choose to jump from one to the other as often as possible, or to keep them apart from one another we are still lead to believe that the two cannot function together. This is where I become unsure. Can't the minds antipodes be married to one another; creating an ultimately stronger realm?
I really enjoyed this reading. The conversation between language and colors is a very intriguing concept to dissect. Truthfully, I really never thought much about color in regards to my daily encounters with it. I understand and appreciate color and its value when I’m engrossed in the art world – whether it be in critiques or casual discussion – but I rarely examine the nature of it elsewhere. Therefore, when I read, “colour spreads flows bleeds stains floods soaks seeps merges. It does not segment or subdivide. Colour is fluid,” (86), I finally grasped the magnitude of its power. Like I said, I never really thought that deeply about color, but as soon as I read that statement, it dawned on me how influenced I am by color. Color is an incredible signifier. It embellishes and expresses anyone, everyone, and everything. There are no limits with color.
Furthermore, I found myself relating to the individuals mentioned that were having trouble finding the right words to appropriately describe the color they liked. There is not a day that goes by that I haven’t found myself pointing at someone’s clothing, a marking on a wall or showing a picture of what desired color I am trying to articulate.
This article is very intriguing with the ways in which it goes about talking about color. The different examples given through out the article have a broad spectrum of ways to go about the idea of color from the personal experiences we have with the color to the words used to describe the visual side.
I found the most interesting part of the article to be the writers experience with a man wearing a green/yellow jacket. The idea that the color reminded the writer about his first experiences with painting brought up a vast idea of memories i have with color. I was also very interested in the ideas brought up about childhood and the idea children being more responsive to color than the actual form. It reminded me of my childhood where anything blue was cool, but pink was out of the question. It helped me relate also to the idea of color since my thought of color has diminished over time as i got into high school i started to enjoy gray more than anything. not sure why. The idea of color then transcribing to ones place in society, going back to the yellow/green coat, is a very interesting aspect. In ancient Rome purple was the color of the royal, while white was the color of commoners. This also is translated to our use of color with children, as blue is the primary color for boys, while pink is the color for girls.
The author's idea of underestimated significance of showing to a world dominated by language i found to be right on. In a world where everyone is trying to talk their way of out things or talk themselves up, it is becoming more rare of people to want to show their strengths by actually doing something constructive and physical.
Lastly i found the part on the idea of words to describe color in different languages to be the least interesting. As the author was talking mostly about the show and not about language i found it to be a drag to read about Vietnamese and Korean languages not having a clear difference between green and blue. The idea of a vocabulary of color and visual doesn't literally mean the words that go along with them. As the author stated, the emotional state and memories induced by the colors is a vocabulary in and of itself.
i thought that this reading was significant in the fact that it discussed color in ways that we do not normally think or talk about. from the faceted gem discussion to huxley's lsd/peyote color discussions to the differences in colors and cultures, it consistently brings a deeper meaning and dissection of color theory.
i find myself enthralled by diamonds(or their cheap imitations) in their ability to reflect brilliant colors even though the stone itself is clear and colorless. i think that this applies itself in a similar way to ceramics and the idea of applying color through stains, metals and slips - and the excitement that ensues when you get pieces out of a glaze kiln that exceed your greatest expectations. i think that glazing in ceramics is similar to the hanunoo's discussion about gems being 'sumptuous nuggets'. the same idea can loosely be applied to the way we read colors in glazes on ceramic pieces.
in addition to that discussion, i found the one about huxley's lsd trips and colors to be similarly interesting. i think that anyone who has experienced any hallucinogen fueled episode can agree that color has an absolutely inclusive grip on reality - or nonreality, as it may seem. i feel that this brings an interesting idea to the table - that we take color and the idea of color for granted. it is only in these episodes that we can fully appreciate the impact that color can have on us as human beings.
the final discussion in the article that i found interesting was the idea that colors, even though they may be labeled the same, are different in different cultures. comparing french violet and brun to english violet and brown was an interesting idea to wrap your mind around. even the yellow/green coat is an odd, yet fitting instance of this. it's kind of a tomayto - tomahto discussion, really.
all around though, it was interesting to think of color in a different way than our usual 64-color-box-crayola kind of way.
This article i think was really..... interesting i think is the word. It brought up a bunch of points on the expression of color that i never think about. i feel i would have understood some of the abstract ideas of color if i partook in drug use. I experience color every day. It affects my mood, energy level , and overall happiness, yet i never truly look and discern each color into a compartment that affects me in these ways. It is not something i really talk about in every day conversation, yet when i think about describing the spot on my carpet, im lost for descriptive words that truly captivate its essence. I agree in describing color as something that has an attacking affect on your visual comprehension on an object. I never thought that color held an internal light, yet again i think that might have something to do with the LSD. I like when he talked about line and color, and colors paradise. "the entanglement of lines becomes like bars of a veritable prison... Man... is exiled from his color soul" I like this quote because i began to think of souls, and what i felt made up my soul. I think mine is made of dreams, and in dreams there are no lines just color and textures. My family makes fun of me because i would have a reoccurring dream of flowing beige textures. needless to say that has been a topic of mockery at every family function. This article also had me think of the crayola factory and its countless names for each color, and what they would mean to different coultures, particulary mac-and-cheese yellow. I could also relate to the studies of babies and color. I baby sat tripplets as infants, and trust me baby einstine is the best thing in the world. No matter how loud they were screaming, the flowing colors captivated them, if only for the length of the tape, it was still a very quiet hour while it played. it made me wonder what is it about color that is so entrancing to everyone, and why does it render people speechless? As there are not words that can even captivate the color itself, i feel that explanation may never be written correctly.
The first thing that caught my attention in the article was on page 79 bottom of the last paragraph. The quote from Faber Birren’s book, Color and Human Response:
“Youngsters are more responsive to color than to form and will delight in it through sheer pleasure. As they grow older they become les impulsive, as they submit to discipline, color may lose some of its intrinsic appeal.”
This quote is interesting and something that I can agree with. How often do we see television programs directed or made for children that talk about color and have very bright bold colors in them? Sure one could argue that talking about the colors is merely to teach the children what each different color is called. But one thing to remember is, it typically keeps them engaged. This use of bright colors to create excitement is used in a lot of aspects in a child life. Toys are always brightly colored, children’s clothes, and books to name a few. The people who make these products know how effected children are by a color. They know the difference between little Billy being excited/willing to wear his backpack to kindergarten has a lot to do with what color it is. And although I agree with the last statement in this quote that as we grow older, we become less impulsive and color loses its power over our decision making, I truly believe everyone still has a favorite color and they will always be more inclined to use/buy/have that color over all other colors in their life.
Well it's been over two months since the posting of the reading, and I still haven't been able to drudge through the whole thing. Something about it just kept draging on, and perhaps this could be the longest read I've experienced. Maybe its my lack of interest in color for the most part. It has some interesting properties in affecting surface and material, but in the end its not really my thing. Guess I'm more of a chromophobe then chromophile. I'm not sure about my opinion of the whole thing, I still don't see color as that big of a deal, or really its own individual thing, but more as decoration to enhance.
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