After more reading through Colour: Documents of Contemporary Art I have discovered more about the theory of colour and how it is used.
It is said by David Batchelor the editor of the book that artists that use a lot of colour are usually female. I have to say that a disagree with this, I think it is very closed minded to stereotype in this way. I think is is very old fashioned point of view that using colour would be feminine.
He also says its childish because bright bold colours attract children. cartoons use bright colours to engage children as do there toys. I think that is why colourful art attracts so many because it appeals to there inner child.
Colour is also attracted to advertising eye catching and synthetic. Bright bold colours where also used in pop art derived from advertising.
The main point he made was that colour stirs emotion and that is the point I agree with. A perfect way to show this is by watching this. It is a video of colourblind people that see in full colour for the first time.
Paul Gauguin explains the ‘Personalities’ of colours. for example when we think of red we think of fire, anger, rage, pain, blood, sex, passion and love. Whereas blue reminds us of The sea, rain, water, depression, sadness, melancholy and cold. I think this reflects in my work.
There are also discussions on how abstract art is more than just mindless markings of colour. It is well thought out marks and colours that are put together to complement each other to create a moment in time or an emotion. It is very hard to get abstract colours to work well together to do this you have to have a great understanding of colour. I feel like I have this through much experimentation.
