Chapter 5
The Relativity of Color
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the relative nature of value and color
Exploring the elusiveness of color with hands-on exercises
Discovering different types of optical color mixing
Experiencing the phantasmic color of after images
One of the main ideas in color theory is that color is relative — that is, your perception of color changes according to the context. The same is true for value.
The concept and practice of color’s relativity usually takes up a significant amount of an art student’s freshman year. In a curriculum developed by the late color theorist Josef Albers, students use color paper in exercises that explore how color shifts in context. These studies instill the understanding that color is a dynamic entity — and that this dynamism is something to accept, embrace, and even exploit in the creation of future work. In this chapter, you conduct similar exercises in which color changes before your eyes!
Give yourself time to observe color ...
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