In Ellen Meloy’s article, The Anthropology of Turquoise I
find it very interesting that she equates color to sensible reality and then to
temperatures when she talks about the area that she hikes to on slick rock. She
describes it as being touchable first and foremost over temperature, this seems
to ring true with many colors from nature. It is often hard to describe a
beautiful summer day or being atop a mountain after a fresh snow as anything
other than a feeling. Color often invokes an emotion which could be the best
and most honest way to express that particular color. When she transitions into
talking about some of the emotions that certain colors evoke and quotes VassilyKandinsky
it really helps give feet to her idea that colors contain emotions by giving
the color a specific technique characteristic. This does however make me wonder
if our background often shapes our opinion of a color because we somehow link
parts of our past to certain colors. With music certain sounds are more
pleasing to certain people based on the culture they were raised in, I wonder
if there is a similar phenomenon with color. I really enjoy the next snippet of
this article as she elaborates on the technical details of how the light gains
information; it makes me think of all the interesting things that you could
make by simply replicating complicated parts of organisms. It reminds me a lot
of Bodyworld and how, even though you are surrounded by dead people and body
parts, it feels like the strangest situation as you make your way through the
exhibit. The exhibit then starts to take on a certain amount of beauty, and
your thoughts of this being strange suddenly seem childish and immature. Why
would it be strange to understand how you work? I can imagine a whole series of
bowls made by chopping cross sections of organs and it could be very
interesting, even you did not wish to eat off of them. Over all this is a
phenomenally written article that gives a lot of interesting food for thought,
and I think that it would make for a phenomenal short film.
I like the point you bring up and agree with it too, color relationship are affected by our background. To allude to her Vassily Kandinsky example, "Orange is like a man, convinced of his own powers". Orange is my favorite color to look at but i have never associated it with power! It's a citrus, warm color of life!
ReplyDeleteI was struck with the same thought as you, does our background shape our opinion of color? I really think it can have a big part with how we embrace and use color; I grew up with lots of cooler colors and tend to lean away from warm yellows or reds because I don't understand them as well.
ReplyDeleteThe point you bring up about trying to describe the feeling of being on top of a beautiful mountain or the smell of the outdoors after a rain, is very intriguing. It really is impossible to justly describe the situation without incorporating the specific way in which these things make you feel. And like Emily and Courtney I agree with your statement on how our background tends to influence the ways we see color, as well as our opinions of them. For myself, my grandmother had the typical 70's style bungalow complete with the shag carpeting and, as some would describe it, that puke green velvet furniture. Since then I have always really enjoyed that kind of puke green color.
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