I think this painting by Wayne Thiebaud is the reason why I get confused with the hot and cold colors receding and coming forward. I can study this painting for a long time and look at the yellow lipstick case on the back row with the red lipstick and know that it is a warmer color than the blue lipstick case in front of it. But then I note that the blue lipstick case has pink lipstick in it and that is what is actually next to the yellow lipstick case and of course the pink is warmer than the yellow in the case so it works....It makes me think about it and practice the concept while I look at it.Thursday, September 10, 2009
I think this painting by Wayne Thiebaud is the reason why I get confused with the hot and cold colors receding and coming forward. I can study this painting for a long time and look at the yellow lipstick case on the back row with the red lipstick and know that it is a warmer color than the blue lipstick case in front of it. But then I note that the blue lipstick case has pink lipstick in it and that is what is actually next to the yellow lipstick case and of course the pink is warmer than the yellow in the case so it works....It makes me think about it and practice the concept while I look at it.
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Another thing to take into account is that Thiebaud may be using color to create space that thwarts the representation of naturalistic space (color-space vs. perspective). By creating a pattern of cool and warm colors that recede and advance (respectively) he's causing tension between the space created by the color and the illustrated or representational space. That tension calls our attention to the picture plane-- the basic flatness of the image. This is unlike, say, a classical use of perspective that would appear to recede very consistently.
ReplyDeleteYou can even more clearly see him reminding us of the essential flatness of the picture plane by how he's placed the lipstick: one almost directly in front of the other, creating four vertical stripes down the picture plane; the shadows form two horizontal stripes, creating the indication of a grid. He's also purposefully (and subtly) distorting the perspective. Does it actually look like those lipstick cases are all resting on the same plane?
So, cool/warm relationships don't need to be deployed systematically (as in: objects closer should be warmer, objects further away should be cooler), but can be manipulated depending on the effect the artist is striving for.