UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW
May 2024
This site will be updated eventually to cover the entire thesis :)
We evolved to see color, born to experience it. Color speaks to us, its presence incites response, invites poetry. Color has also evolved alongside us, now living in the minds of both humans and computers as we all meld together/approach the singularity. This project looks at color through both lenses, attempting to merge human and digital perspectives without losing the spirit of either one. Color is not something to be solved, but color is a perfect example of a multidisciplinary, tangled thread of a topic that requires a hybrid approach to tackle. It asks us to create new metaphors, new systems so we can hold the full idea in our hands and minds. It all begins with a knowledge of color, then an expanded ability to make color, but having a feel for color is where we need to be.
A foundational lesson of classical art training is to draw what you see, not what you think you see. Immediately your point of view is held suspect and your objectivity is challenged. Techniques can be mastered, but there is always something you are missing, and you always need a fresh pair of eyes. To Josef Albers, Bauhaus authority on color, art training is first and foremost about observation and articulation. “A sensitive and flexible eye for color should be learned over memorizing strict guidelines. What’s needed — Imagination and fantasy realized in discovery and invention — Thinking in situations.”
This is a project of translating and transmuting color into new forms. Study the nuances, and find that color is three dimensional, moving in all directions. RGB = XYZ. Take that one step further and we can plot the path of color and let it dance through the diagrams of color spaces read by robots. Through new capabilities in 3D modeling, rendering, and virtual reality, we can use that data as inspiration for new art, sculpting the forms of color and learning its choreography. Building a multi-dimensional, flexible vocabulary of color can then create an opening for new working spaces, or better yet, recreate the working spaces we are in danger of losing. No longer embellishment, or an after effect, color incorporates itself into the process. This new interface is not seamless, it requires an equal effort from the colorist to learn the language.
We evolved to see color, born to experience it. Color speaks to us, its presence incites response, invites poetry. Color has also evolved alongside us, now living in the minds of both humans and computers as we all meld together/approach the singularity. This project looks at color through both lenses, attempting to merge human and digital perspectives without losing the spirit of either one. Color is not something to be solved, but color is a perfect example of a multidisciplinary, tangled thread of a topic that requires a hybrid approach to tackle. It asks us to create new metaphors, new systems so we can hold the full idea in our hands and minds. It all begins with a knowledge of color, then an expanded ability to make color, but having a feel for color is where we need to be.
A foundational lesson of classical art training is to draw what you see, not what you think you see. Immediately your point of view is held suspect and your objectivity is challenged. Techniques can be mastered, but there is always something you are missing, and you always need a fresh pair of eyes. To Josef Albers, Bauhaus authority on color, art training is first and foremost about observation and articulation. “A sensitive and flexible eye for color should be learned over memorizing strict guidelines. What’s needed — Imagination and fantasy realized in discovery and invention — Thinking in situations.”
This is a project of translating and transmuting color into new forms. Study the nuances, and find that color is three dimensional, moving in all directions. RGB = XYZ. Take that one step further and we can plot the path of color and let it dance through the diagrams of color spaces read by robots. Through new capabilities in 3D modeling, rendering, and virtual reality, we can use that data as inspiration for new art, sculpting the forms of color and learning its choreography. Building a multi-dimensional, flexible vocabulary of color can then create an opening for new working spaces, or better yet, recreate the working spaces we are in danger of losing. No longer embellishment, or an after effect, color incorporates itself into the process. This new interface is not seamless, it requires an equal effort from the colorist to learn the language.
> Paper (coming soon)
> Demo
> Image Gallery