carlos cruz diez: circumstance and ambiguity of color at CAFA art museum

‘chromosaturation’ by carlos cruz-diez at the CAFA art museumimage © designboom

french-venezuelan artist carlos cruz-diez explores the use of color as a material of physical situation. his exhibition at the CAFA art museum in beijing (on now until april 10th, 2013) presents a survey of his 60-year career,including his early kinetic and op art pieces of the 50s and 60s, color always being the target of his creative expression.this solo show brings viewers into a space where they can re-experience, re-discover and understand color as somethingwhich exists completely independently of any kind of support, and without the help of any form.

  image © designboom

‘chromosaturation’ is an ongoing work of artificial environments which consist of three chambers: one red, one blue and one green,each one immersing the viewer into a completely monochromatic situation. the experience triggers disturbances to the retina, which is accustomed to being exposed to a broad range of colors simultaneously. they can act as detonators that trigger the individual’sidea of color while generating a physical, material situation. it takes place in space without any help from form, devoid of support, unencumbered by cultural conventions.

images © designboom

  images © designboom

  image © designboom

  images © designboom

  ‘induction chromatique’image © designboom

chromatic inductions are closely related to the phenomenon of post-image, which is also known as the retinal persistence,or simultaneous contrast effect. this means that if the viewer stares at a red plane briefly and then looks away,the retina preserves the image for a few seconds, but the image appears green, which is the induced color, or the complementary color. these phenomena occur separately, one after the other; ‘chromatic inductions’ however reproduce them simultaneously. they therefore manage to stabilize and render visiblea phenomenon that can only be captured fleetingly and under very special circumstances. the color that appears is both there and not there;but is just as real as the pigments that have been used.

  image © designboom

  if the viewer stares at a red plane briefly and looks away, the retina retains that image for a momentimage © designboom

  image © designboom