"Color is the most relative medium in art"
-Josef Albers
Josef Albers, a German-born, American artist, was one of the most influential educators of the 20th century, developing color theories that, to this day,shape the way artists and designer see, use and understand color.
Color is not only the most relative medium in art, meaning that color is perceived only in relation to what other colors are around it. Color consistently deceives us, seeming to be one hue to one person, and either darker or lighter hue to another. Against a white (back)ground, a grey figure is darker. Against a black background, that same grey figure is lighter. Same color. Two different readings.
Color can not only change its appearance, it can evoke associations and reactions-either emotionally, psychologically, or as stated above, physically.
For instance, let us consider one of the most famous and influential art pieces of the 50s movement known as "Pop Art". Pop art is defined as "a form of art that depicts objects or scenes from everyday life and employs techniques from commercial art and popular illustration"-http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pop+art.
Andy Warhol, a New York commercial artist as well as the "father" of the East Coast pop art movement, took everyday iconic images of the 50s such as Campbell's soup cans, Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mouse, and turned it into art, much to the dismay of art critics who found it "banal and vulgar"
http://nga.gov.au/warhol/Kinsman.cfm
What is interesting is not only the larger-than-life depiction of a can of Chicken Noodle Soup, an iconic image of the convenience needed in a post-war country where women were now at work, but the variants of the can that followed.
To see how important color is in marketing, branding and design, as well as the subjective quality of such colors, let us look at two examples of Warhol's soup cans.
Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup
In this piece, we see the classic Tomato soup can that we all know and have grown up with. The 4 different fonts- 1 script, 1 sans-serif, 1serif- are familiar and comforting. The colors of the label, red, black and white, are all equally strong and dominant. The neutrality of white only emphasizes the bold,red "Tomato" lettering, the white, script "Campbell's" is highlighted even more against the red ground. All of these colors are strong, with psychological meaning as well. Black is known to be perceived psychologically as ""sophisticated" or "glamorous". White is "clean, sterile, pure". Red is the color of "courage,strength, energy". The gold, circular medal and fleur de lis border is an elegant addition to the design of the product, psychologically implying a hierarchy of the product as perhaps superior or of elite value.(
http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours)
Appetizing, familiar, comforting, All-American.
Then, Warhol experiments with repetition and variants of the iconic can and underlines the effect color has on the eye and the subjectiveness of such.
First and foremost, consider the psychological effects of the label and how color COMPLETELY transforms the design. Are any of these cans appetizing or appealing to you? Would we still purchase tomato soup in a pink and blue can? Or the yellow and brown can? Pink and blue, perhaps, reminds us of baby items and the yellow and brown can could possibly remind us of other foods...macaroni and cheese products? Bread? Certainly not the same effect that the classical red, black, and white has on our consumer senses. Would we buy black butter? Or blue milk? Purple Oreos? Color can transform a design, either successfully or failing by not meeting the challenges and constraints that the product and the market imposes on it. Funny, though, Warhol's pieces became so popular and infamous, not only boosting sales, that the company, in 2004, released a limited-edition tribute to Warhol with these cans....
Now, look above, again, to the Warhol painting. Looking closely at the red "Campbell's" in the top, two images in comparison with the red label and "TOMATO" in the bottom two images. In the top, left image, we can see how a red figure on a pink ground, (pink, being red mixed with white to make a "tint" of red), becomes warm and almost changes to an orange hue against the coolness of pink. In the top, right corner, the red logo figure is against a yellow ground. Yellow, a lighter and warmer color than the red, makes the logo "pop" out, appear darker, and appear a little cooler. The bottom, left image utilizes the same red as the image on the bottom, right image as well, but optically deceives us. Against the drab brown, red seems lighter in value, but against its complimentary green, there is an optic competition, both colors equal in value and intensity.
This bottom, right image is almost an illusion, a simultaneous contrast similar to that of the "after-image" effect in which one can stare at the color red for 30 seconds , then look at a white piece of paper and see the color green- its after-image. The theory, as explained in "Interaction of Color" by Josef Albers, maintains "that the nerve ends on the human retina...are tuned to receive any of the 3 primary colors ( red, yellow, and blue)..." and that "staring at red will fatigue the red-sensitive parts, so that a sudden shift to white...only the mixture of yellow and blue occurs. 'and this is green, the compliment of red."
These manipulations, as well as several others, and the image of the Campbell's soup can were not the only subjective color experiments Warhol experimented with and exploited.
Albers was religiously methodical in his color exercises and studies, insisting on using the almost exclusive use of colored paper and mathematical precision in the size of his favored geometric square and rectangle compositions. Warhol, as you can see above, in contrast, used frivolous, whimsical and iconic images.
Homage to Josef Alber's Works- Gabriel Ross
Either way, you can see the interaction of color and it subjectivity in relation to the colors surrounding it and how color can completely change, transform, and affect design.
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