The White Album
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter on the subject of color. The article is going to be about living with different colors, and what effect color has on mood. While I am a big champion of living with color, and could not help but carry on about orange and yellow, I find I am also incredibly attracted to WHITE. Having once painted a living room seven different colors of white, I have become attuned to the way white can emphasize form, line and nuance.
The interview sparked me to consider what I might include in my life if restricted to the color white, and what I found was that TEXTURE is key. Anything but basic, the purity of white allows artists to approach the simplest of forms – or the most complex. White can act as a unifying element among highly textured pieces living together in one room.
In honor of the release this week of The Beatles video game, I decided to create a “White Album” with examples of how artists in a multiple of mediums explore this most complete of all colors.
Josh Urso’s Bone-Puff Pendant Lamp, challenges my senses. Made of fabric, yet holding its spherical form, this white lamp begs to be examined as it casts pure dotted shadows from the many mesh perforations. In this case, white makes the piece stand out in a room, yet allows the fabric, texture and interplay of hard and soft to be the interest.
Lynn Meade hand-carves porcelain. In her Round Tempest Vase, the white clay surface serves springs to life, completely enveloped in voluptuous curves of the carving. While white porcelain can sometimes be pure, even sterile looking, Meade’s attention to detail makes this white vase tactile and rich.
In John Maggioto’s Decanter, a completely different passion for texture interplay with white is exhibited. Through an innovative process, this piece marries the texture of marble and paper, using white as the accent of light within the moody darkness of photography.
