home
coloraday

ARCHIVE
2010

apr days
• color
concept &
theory widgets and apps

mar days
• red:
a portrait of a artist rothko

feb days
• talking
heads as figure/ground

jan days
• tanja's
black light dance party

ARCHIVE
2009

dec days
• tootsie roll pop wrappers colors & flavors

nov days
• stephen vitiello's four color sound

oct days
• atmospheric perspective

sept days
• a rainbow
of antioxidants
colors

aug days
• floor stain colorants

jul days
• minimal colors

jun days
• wildflowers cataloged by color

may days
• tennis court colors

apr days
• morandi's neutral colors

mar days
• grid colorists

feb days
• black as
film noir

jan days
• flood of toxic minerals used in paints

ARCHIVE
2008

dec days
• comple-mentary
colors

nov days
• kettle korn
packaging color change

oct days
• green fluorescent protein

sept days
• red palms - not green

aug days
• blue tunes

jul days
• “blue” - textile museum

jun days
• “fiesta- ware”
colorants

may days
• “blue alchemy” hive gallery

apr days
• “sennelier” selecting
watercolours for travel

above Richard Serra “The Matter of Time” / Arcelor Gallery
The Guggenheim Museum Bilboa (photo june 2008)

above Richard Serra “The Matter of Time” / Arcelor Gallery
The Guggenheim Museum Bilboa above Richard Serra Oliver Range in Alexander Valleyabove Richard Serra / Oliver Range in Alexander Valleyabove Ad Reinhardt Black Paintings from the 1960's

Minimal and Chance Color Works

Recently viewed the film: Revenge of the Dead Indians: In Memoriam John Cage at the Kabuki Theater, SF - a fundraiser for Other Minds. The film was released in 1993.

John Cage's 1952 composition 4'33"” is the inspiration for July '09's topic: Minimal colorworks. Cage’s piece also explores chance-controlled music based on the ancient Chinese classic text: “I Ching”. Within a set time structure, performed sounds are minimized and surrounding sounds happen by chance. As in music, both minimal and chance are fertile grounds for artists' colorwork experiments.

One year and a few months ago I was inside this sculpture by Richard Serra “The Matter of Time” (“Snake”). Surely, this work makes the ranks of Minimal art: wraps of sinuous steel sheets, (one of eight), 12 x 14 feet in height, 44 to 276 tons.
Arcelor Gallery The Guggenheim Museum Bilboa

The rusting steel alloy is registered under the trademark cor-ten steel allowing the steel surface to weather without the need for painting - a highly minimal surface which only changes by chance exposure to air.

And on another adventure, I was a guest at the Oliver Range in Alexander Valley.
Steve Oliver introduced the visiting group to his site-specific commissioned works.

I walked the fields and could view the enormous Serra sculpture, Snake Eyes and Boxcars, 1990-03. Forged Cor-ten steel, 12 blocks.

One of Ad Reinhardt Black Paintings from the 1960's to the left
continues the minimal and chance explorations that John Cages' composition “4'33"” presented in 1952 – a decade earlier.

Look closely at the painting as it is not one solid black. Even in this web image (low resolution) there are subtle underling grids - each a different varied blackness.

The story Tall, Dark & Fragil, by Holland Cotter, describes the fragility of the surface and the consequences of preserving intact the original work.
Tall, Dark & Fragil
Art Review
New York Times
By Holland Cotter
Aug. 1, 2008