Color-form meanings: interconnections between perception, association and symbolism

Rachel Newton

doi:10.1117/12.464581

6 June 2002 Color-form meanings: interconnections between perception, association and symbolism

Rachel Newton

Proceedings Volume 4421, 9th Congress of the International Colour Association; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.464581
Event: 9th Congress of the International Color Association, 2001, Rochester, NY, United States

Abstract

Every form is as sensitive as a puff of smoke, the slightest breath will alter it completely. Kandinsky-- The interaction between form and color regarding this mutability of meaning is a subject that is ever elusive. At the same time, it remains a subject that merits objective and collective study, not so much to generate finite conclusions but to increase our visual awareness and sensitivity of the complex phenomena at work. Much has been accomplished but it still remains an all but unanswered question. Color effects need to be seen to be believed and, as Albers stated in his Interaction of Color, theory should follow practice. This paper presents recent developments in my painting practice by exploring the combined effects of color phenomena through systematic practical experiment with changing color forms. The work is systematic but embraces the intuitive, the sensual and the magical - closing the gap between intuition and formula. The wide range of meanings (associations, evocations, emotions) that Mark Rothko obtained from subtle changes of form and color in the rectangles- within- rectangles format of his mature paintings, is evidence of the scope of this line of research.

Citation Download Citation

Rachel Newton "Color-form meanings: interconnections between perception, association and symbolism", Proc. SPIE 4421, 9th Congress of the International Colour Association, (6 June 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.464581

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