Viola series

Each colour, without exception, is bound to have a specific quality attached to it. We may accept that red is a warmer and blue is a cooler tone, but, ultimately, these are irresponsible statements. Colour, from the standpoint of perception, sensation, and impression, is subjective. Considering that a colour is unable to manifest or occupy its quality without a spectator, we could argue that it cannot exist on its own. There is no objective colour. Its perception varies from culture to culture and person to person. Colours can affect us if we lack a strong, stable mental state. If I am in a certain state, I may long for a certain colour. (There is nothing new in rendering colours to mental states, as such expressions as ‘I am blue,’ which is intended to convey sadness, demonstrate. However, reversing these meanings does not equal to an individual perceiving colour in a wrong way or having a false colour consciousness.) Longing for a colour is conditional upon an external or internal quality, which, although needs not be explicit, must always be present. From a visual perspective, the anxious state of mind is a departure from my visual, phenomenal, and certain emotional and conscious qualities that I otherwise possess. Anxiety means an absence from myself.

The finished product the viewer sees was largely influenced by Goethe’s colour theory and, of course, the principles of optical colour mixing that I have applied. Goethe explains in detail what colours express and signify and what effect they have on humans. According to his studies, they can be divided into two groups: positive/active and negative/passive colours, which I have used evenly for my Violet project. The cool pink tone of the previous series appears as a separate layer here, but it dissolves in a peachy, yellowy red, which pushes the composition into a more positive, warmer tone. The most dominant quality among the cooler tones is a light sky-blue that eases the cold, clear Parisian blue of the upper layers and the complementing and offsetting carmine red. For me, colour is a state of mind, and vice versa. My current state of mind is violet; previously, it had been a cool, flat pink mixed with cadmium yellow. After the pink state, now it is the colour phenomenon of violet that defines me; it is a fuller, more positive working attitude where the colour qualia are in balance.