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| Carry On, 2010 (Click image for a larger view) |
The title has several meanings/references: (1)the basket-shapes in the rectangles of the central panel, (2)continue or move forward, in regard to life in general or more specifically in regard to the texts of the dismembered books, (3)do something, i.e. make the next art work.
The Color RED
I made this piece in red because I like the vibrancy of red and red attracts attention. Besides, everyone knows that people like red. (Or do they? Hmmmm. See below.)
Meanshile, from Wikipedia (the compendium of all the world's knowledge), this description of red says it all:
Red is the color that is on the outside edge of the rainbow. It is one of the three primary colors, along with blue and yellow. Red light has a wavelength between 630-750 nanometers.
Red is the color of some apples.
Red is the color of some blood and the occasional tomato.
It is sometimes used to mark things that are wrong, important, or dangerous.
Popular Colors
Based on a recent personal survey of an unusual type, red is not the most popular color. My survey consisted of submitting images of 79 works to an art consultant recently. (Yes, I have a lot of work around - and this was mostly old work.) While by no means an exact breakdown, I'm speaking here about dominant color, the works broke down about like this:
Red - 17
Yellow/Orange - 32
Blue - 23
Green - 7
Of these, the client is "thinking" about taking 11 pieces, that break down as follows:
Green - 4
Yellow - 2
Blue - 5
Not a red in the bunch. (You can congratulate me later if it really happens.) I think this survey provides valuable knowledge and debunks the prevalent view that green is not a good color for a painting. In my Questionnaire of 14 artists, green was by far the favorite color of the artists interviewed. Was it only Rothko who was a red devotee?
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| Matisse - Red Studio |
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| Rothko - Four Darks in Red (at the Whitney) |
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| Clyfford Still - 1949 No. 1 |
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| Philip Guston Zone 1954 |
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| Philip Guston Painting, Smoking, Eating, 1973 |
Most Popular Colors in Decorating
By chance, I happened to receive an email today from HGTV. I'm on their list because every day for 30 days in a row I entered their contest for a fully-furnished, newly-constructed home out west. (Note: I did not win.) So one of their headlines grabbed me: The Five Most Popular Colors. I had to see what they were. Here they are in order of least to most popularity:
5. Yellow
4. Pink
3. Grey
2. Green
1. Brown
Well, that's a big YUCK. I don't see aqua, orange or magenta anywhere on there, colors that I prefer in my rooms. However, perhaps this is useful information for artists looking to sell work for over the sofa. Certainly Brown is good news for that because pretty much everything goes with it. OK, I do not like brown and I only like beige in dogs.
December Arting Expedition
I am off tomorrow for another trip to NYC with the Binster to visit some galleries and see the Ab-Ex and drawing shows at MoMA. I'll have a full report on my return.
3 comments:
I don't care what any of those surveys say...Red Rocks!
Enjoy your holiday and keep that great red work coming.
Better than the Sunday paper and always good for a good chuckle. Thanks, Nancy.
Gwen
P.S. I too love red! Magenta even better. However, I still own all my red paintings. Now I know why. Oh, and I own a red painting by N.N.
And I'm glad you own it, Gwen. Red is great. I don't care what looks good with the sofa.
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