Today we are featuring the work of Josef Albers the famous Bauhaus teacher, painter and designer. Julie Cloutier a young artist with an eye for finding color inspiration in daily life, and Mike Womack, an interactive artist who plays between the lines of sculpture and painting to crate a unique experience of color.

Josef Albers

Josef Albers was a professor at the famous Bauhaus before immigrating to the United States after the Nazi's closure of the school in 1933.

Once arriving in the United States, Albers began teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where his students included, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Ray Johnson and Susan Weil.

He most famous work, and the work featured here, is from his 'Homage to the Square' series, which included hundreds of paintings and prints that explored the interaction of color presented simply on squares. The mediums and techniques changed slightly over the 25 year span that he devoted to the series, starting as oil paintings on Masonite panel, Albers also produced the work as lithographs, and finally, as screen-prints.

Julie Cloutier

Taking inspiration from her daily observations of living in New York City, Julie paired up photos with color swatches to create this wonderful little book.

Imagine distinguishing a dozen primary colors, seeing ultraviolet and infrared, and perceiving six different types of polarized light.  For the giant Mantis shrimp of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world is colorful beyond human imagination.  Reuters reports a new study by Swiss and Australian marine biologists, suggesting that Mantis shrimps need to detect minute changes in color and polarization to detect nearly invisible prey in murky seawater.  They probably also use color to send sexual signals during mating.  The scientific report is available online at the Public Library of Science Journal.

Photo by CybersamX

The typical mantis shrimp has emerald green eyes and a pale green or orange body, with bright yellow outlines.

FUN FACTS:

• Mantis shrimp have the fastest kick in the animal kingdom: 75 feet per second.  They can punch a hole through aquarium glass.
• Mantis shrimp are named for their resemblance to the praying mantis insect.
• Their coloration varies to match their habitats.  The golden mantis is green when it dwells in sea grasses but tan in sandy areas.  The crevice-dwelling rock mantis varies from dark green to black.
• Mantis shrimp tend to be active hunters at night.

Photo by sandstep

Here are some color palettes inspired by the Mantis shrimps:

What is color? Is it purely a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, divisible into nanometers of wavelength and lux of intensity? Or is it a vocabulary that allows us to describe the world around us? Is color art, science, or both?

Is Blue Always Blue?

In 1984, George Orwell invented ‘Newspeak,’ a language that makes alternative thinking impossible by removing the words used to describe such thought: if you have no word for ‘revolution,’ you will not start one... Newspeak was based on the idea of ‘linguistic relativism,’ the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Anthropological linguist Edward Sapir and his student, Benjamin Whorf, were convinced that our language constructs our reality: that we see the world through the lens of our own language and anything not encompassed by our language is – to us, at least – unthinkable. Do we live within the confines of our own linguistic reality?

Color terms have long been a favorite testing ground for proponents and opponents of linguistic relativism alike. The color vocabularies of the world’s languages are, well, colorful, and far from identical. Russian discriminates between ‘light blue’ goluboy (голубой) and ‘dark blue’ siniy (синий). Dani, an Indonesian language, has but two words for color: mili, usually associated with dark colors, and mola, usually associated with light colors (it is more complex than this, but that’s the gist). Yet despite these fun linguistic anecdotes, generally speaking, we all share the same color palette. In the late 1970s, the World Color Survey looked at 110 languages from non-industrialized countries worldwide (it is thought that color saturation in industrialized nations skews results for languages like English and French). The survey found that when all the data was plotted, six cross-linguistic peaks emerged, corresponding to English’s pink/red, brown, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Some peaks were taller than others, and some languages had color terms that did not fit into the major peaks, but the survey provided evidence that we’re all more or less looking at the same rainbow.

Photo by -sel-

Why is Blue 'Blue?'

Human eyes have two kinds of photoreceptor cells: rods and cones. Rod cells have one type of photosensitive pigment that allows us to differentiate between light and dark and helps us detect motion. Cone cells have three types of photosensitive pigments – red, green, and blue – that allow us to see in color and in detail. Together, they tell us everything they see in the visible spectrum. But biology is only half the equation. When you look at something – the sky, for instance – your rods and cones set in motion a complex psychological process that enables you to describe what you see. This is true for all stimuli, but we’ll focus on color here.

So let’s look at the sky and see what happens. Step one is perception: your rods and cones take in the color. They tell your brain that they have perceived reflected light with a wavelength of, say, 465 nanometers. Step two is categorization: you must place what you see along the visible spectrum. Your brain says this is BLUE (all caps means it is a color category, not a color itself). Step three is lexicalization: you put that category into words: “The sky is so blue today!” The lexicalization process allows for both synonymy (RED includes both crimson and carmine) and polysemy (teal falls under both the BLUE and the GREEN categories).
But what about the Russians? Or the Dani in Indonesia? We know that neither has a word for the BLUE category, but do they still have the category?

Whether religion figures prominently into your life or you choose to try to solve the mysteries of existence without its guidance, anyone can admit there is something about the act of believing in a power greater than yourself that has tremendous appeal. Faith can lead people to express their feelings about what they believe in in a myriad of ways. One of the ways seems to be through color, as many of the world's religions display a vivid palette in the ways and hows of their worship.

Photo by wonderlane

The Robes of Monks

Tibetan monks are one of the first things one thinks of when it comes to the presence of color in religion. Their saffron robes make for a bright contrast to the solemnity of their practice. Buddha was said to have worn a monk's robe made of patches of donated cloth, so the monks wear these robes in honor of his memory, and also to draw contrast between themselves and the physical world in their quest to attain enlightenment.

Another familiar image is of the Gelukpa monks, who are of the same sect as the Dalai Lama. These monks often wear yellow, pointed hats that draw to mind the image of a plumed helmet. Chinese and Korean monks wear brown or blue robes instead of the more commonly recognized orange that Tibet favors, and Japanese monks wear black or grey robes, leaving strong color out altogether.

Photo by anna pearson

While most people also think of Tibet when then think of prayer flags, they are believed to have originated from Tibet's oldest religion, Bön, which actually predates Buddhism. There are two types of prayer flags: Lung Ta, which are the horizontal flags, and Darchor, which are vertical. Lung Ta are commonly hung on a long line that resembles a clothesline, while Darchor are usually hung on poles along their vertical edge.

For years scientist have known that chameleons' ability to change color served three purposes: camouflage, body heat regulation, and social communication. However, the most widely accepted hypothesis as to what drove this adaptation, up until now, was camouflage, but some recent research has brought new light as to why chameleons have become know as the color changers that they are, and scientist now believe that social communication is the main driver behind this adaptation.

There are more than 160 species of Chameleons known, and their body size and shape varies widely from 1 inch up to 31 inches. Most of them can be found in Africa, Madagascar and other tropical areas. While chameleons have many unique physical features, such as their independently moving eyes and extremely long tongues, their ability to change color has always been the most fascinating.

Photo by sukanto debnath

All chameleons are able to change color, with different species exhibiting different color ranges that include pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown and yellow.

Color Change

Chameleons have specialized cells, collectively called chromatophores, that lie in layers under their transparent outer skin. The cells in the upper layer, called xanthophores and erythrophores, contain yellow and red pigments respectively. Below these is another layer of cells called iridophores or guanophores, and they contain the colourless crystalline substance guanine. These reflect, among others, the blue part of incident light. If the upper layer of chromatophores appears mainly yellow, the reflected light becomes green (blue plus yellow). A layer of dark melanin containing melanophores is situated even deeper under the reflective iridophores. The melanophores influence the 'lightness' of the reflected light. All these pigment cells can rapidly relocate their pigments, thereby influencing the colour of the chameleon.
- Wiki:Chameleon

Photo by Pashka

The study

Scientists ran experiments on 21 species of southern African dwarf chameleons to figure out why these color-changing abilities formed.

If camouflage drove the evolution of color change, the species of chameleon that display the greatest diversity of skin coloration would have the greatest variety of backgrounds to match their habitats.

Today we are highlighting the work of light, electronic, sound and film artist Ron Haselden and woodblock type artist Dennis Ichiyama.

Ron Haselden

Ron Haselden mixes the hard materials of buildings with the soft media of light and sound. He also likes to incorporates a mix of high-tech and low-tech, often using people as an element in his works.

La Noche en Blanco. A light performance for 470 people. A series of changing images, based on the theme of Family Garden and drawn by local children.

New Street Square A large-scale neon light work planned for a new development in the City of London.

Dennis Ichiyama

Dennis Ichiyama is Professor of Art and Design and a former Designer-in-Residence at the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. His experimental work with wood type has a complex impact that is created from the use of simple forms and colors.

One of the most spellbinding color illusionists of the last century left her spectators dazzled to near-mystical proportions.  Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) was pioneer of choreography and an innovator of theatrical lighting, holding patents for creating color gels and using chemical salts for luminescence.  When she took to the stage dressed in flowing silk costumes specially lit according to her own schemes, she transformed into a full-fledged magician.  When modern dance founder Isadora Duncan first witnessed Fuller's shape-shifting wizardry, she was bewitched by an alchemy of color and movement that left the impression of a once-in-a-lifetime miracle.  Employing only voluminous colored silks illuminated by beams of light, Fuller performed what amounted to a shamanic ritual, convincing her spectators that a sacred metamorphosis was unfolding.  Fuller evoked the primal power of the bonfire, depicted the wonder of new life, and enacted the elevation of the soul into boundless essence.  Though the experience left Duncan in a state of wordless awe, she couldn't help attempting to account for the sheer magnitude of what she beheld:

Loïe Fuller at the Folies Bergère

"Before our very eyes she turned to many-coloured, shiny orchids, to a wavering, flowering sea-flower, and at length to a spiral-like lily, all the magic of Merlin, the sorcery of light, colour, flowing form.  What an extraordinary genius!  No imitator of Loïe Fuller has ever been able even to hint at her genius!  I was entranced, but I realized that this was a sudden ebullition of nature which could never be repeated.  She transformed herself into a thousand colourful images before the eyes of her audience.  Unbelievable. Not to be repeated or described.  Loïe Fuller originated all the changing colours and floating Liberty scarves.  She was one of the first original inspirations of light and changing colour.  I returned to the hotel dazzled and carried away by this marvelous artist. . . . I was more and more enthusiastic about her marvellous ephemeral art.  That wonderful creature—she became fluid; she became light; she became every colour and flame, and finally she resolved into miraculous spirals of flames wafted toward the Infinite."  (My Life, pp. 71-72)

The significance of Loïe Fuller's performance can hardly be exaggerated.  She embodied the Goddess of Light and the Rainbow, whether under the guise of the Greek Artemis or Iris, the Hindu Uma, the Mayan Ix Chel, the Celtic Brigid, or the Roman Diana.  Biographers Richard and Marcia Current called Fuller a "magician of light."  Befitting a goddess, Fuller had a paradoxical nature, and she created her own mythology.  Her biographers explain:

Who exactly threw the first camera may be hard to know for sure, but the viral spread of awareness, and popularity, of the photographic technique known as Camera Tossing has been attributed to the Camera Toss flickr group and its creator Ryan Gallagher. Currently, the original flickr group has 5,000 members with nearly 3,500 submitted photos. In total there are some 15,000 photos tagged 'cameratoss' on flickr.

With the spread of its popularity around the internet the technique has quickly gained acceptance and legitimacy, with subsequent articles, gallery showings and image licensing from companies such as Adobe, who use camera tossing images for some of their packaging.

Camera Tossing Basics

Photo by clickykbd + clickykbd

Preface

It is exactly what it sounds like. To achieve the proper results first realize there are no proper results and just throw your camera in the air. Try to remember to push the shutter first and, of course, to catch the camera.

For more information on camera tossing and the camera tossing community a good place to start is Camera Toss (The Blog).

Photo by daddy0h

Intoduction

The current interest in this rather bizarre form of photography stems from the creation of the Camera Toss interest group on flickr. I (my flickr page) created this interest group after doing quite a bit of throwing my camera and enjoying the process and results. Essentially, I thought others might enjoy doing it or looking at the results so I shared them as I went. It also embodied some very core ideas about art that I find fascinating.

Photo by davespilbrow

How it went from there to getting linked everywhere, having a blog that at times attracts thousands of visitors a day, getting covered by the printed media, and needing this Mini-HOWTO is another story. If you are curious here is a good theory on such things. Regardless of everyone's individual reasons for viewing or participating, it apparently had all the right ingredients to capture imagination and continue spreading.

Here at COLOURlovers we love all of our members. Everyday we come across new colors, palettes and patterns that inspire us, and once in while we find a member who is working as hard; well, almost as hard, as us to spread the love of color on their own.

One member, fazai38, who has continued to impress the community also has his own blog that is an inspiration to us. Many of the post at blog.fazai38.com utilize the features of COLOURlovers using them to create incredible photo and palette color inspiration posts.

So, to keep spreading the love of our community we thought we would highlight some of his palettes to inspire those who haven't come across his work or blog.

fazai38 is a multimedia designer and blogger who lives in Malaysia.

The Illustrations of Nastia and Palettes of fazai38

Nastia is a wonderful person who currently lives in Moscow, Russia, and she's working as an illustrator and graphic designer because she sort of loves doing that. And, coming to think about it, that alone makes her quite a successful young lady if you ask me. Yes, I do know that nobody ever asks me, but the whole story about one doing what one loves and lives happy because of that actually does sound believable. So, here's unexpected bit of free advice - "if you don't like moving boxes, you shouldn't be in the box-moving industry". You just quit that and you'll be as happy as she is, that's for sure.

Anyway, we really should get back to her story. As you probably don't know, since you had no way of finding that out, in the past she had changed some of occupations and places. She traveled around a lot, smiling politely and stating that "meeting people is easy" and "hey, now, that's just zany!". She studied graphic design in Moscow academy of prints and celebrated that by having a remarkably red hairdo for three consecutive years. Also, she worked for a whole bunch of different companies around the world, which were unusually happy while she was there with them and a lot less happy after she would leave. Oh, and she considers herself to be a tornado expert because she lived in Germany for couple of years and there's nobody currently here to prevent her from claiming she's a tornado expert.

Can China ban the color orange? That is the question that is being asked by the Color Orange Project.

Launched by artist Jens Galschiot, the Color Orange Project was created to highlight the violations of human rights in China for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Idea is that the strict censorship in China will limit traditional signs of protest but that it will be impossible for the government to ban the color orange.

As much as I love paraphrasing I'd rather let you read what the creators of the project have to say about it.

The Color Orange Project: Appeal

Can China ban The Color Orange?

Take part in checkmating the Chinese regime and making a global manifestation for human rights.

We hereby encourage you to join the initiative TheColorOrange.net with the aim of showing China - during the Olympics in August 2008 - that we are many people who are keeping an eye on China's human rights violations.

The idea is both sophisticated and simple. By using something with the color orange during the Olympics - both inside and outside of China - you are sending a signal to the world that something is wrong in China. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a pronounced statement.

No political or religious movement can claim to have a monopoly of the initiative. By participating in the project you show that you support the fight for human rights in China.

The Chinese Government wants to present the Olympics as perfect and streamlined to billions of television viewers around the globe with the aim of promoting China as a modern and efficient society. They will do anything it takes to avoid getting criticized on television. However, by using the Color Orange we are exactly capable of breaking with the harsh censorship and embitter the joy of the regime. At the same time, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice during the Olympics 2008.

The Olympic Charter stipulates as fundamental Olympic principles: "the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and the promotion of "a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity". Nobody can fairly claim that the Chinese regime is living up to these standards. On the contrary, the usage of the orange color will be an ethical and non-political statement that is indeed in deep harmony with the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.