Culture Making items tagged color

Design, color, and cultural power

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “A fascinating long interview with a Portuguese communication designer who has taught design courses and workshops in Maputo, Mozambique. In situations like the ones she describes with her students, there's always the risk and temptation (for both teacher and students) of straying from helpful cultural empowerment to a sort of patronizing teacher-as-messiah role. I like the exchange below because she doesn't say "And to think nobody had ever told them that their local cultural knowledge had value!" but rather, "Of course they knew it had value in their everyday lives; my job was simply to help them extend that value into the specific practices we were studying."”

It’s interesting to see that although people appreciate their very rich culture, they do not connect its traditions to contemporary knowledge and practices. For example, students in the graphic design course I taught at ENAV asked me to give them lessons in color, insisting they knew nothing about it. This really surprised me. My immediate answer was, “But you should teach me! You’re surrounded by color and use it in such powerful ways in every aspect of daily life. I admire you for it!” Their response was to laugh and say, “But Teacher! That’s not design! We need to use design colors.” From talking to my students and people in the cultural sector, I got the impression that design was this distant, quite artificial, field they had to adapt to. Their main concern is learning software.

from ""But Teacher! That’s Not Design!"," by Vera Sacchetti, Change Observer, 8 July 2010 :: via koranteng

A cross-cultural color wheel

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “Click here to see the full color wheel. I'm not sure if there's a non-aesthetic reason to present this data in circular form, but though difficult to read this graphic definitely rewards scrutiny. I'm fascinated by the attributes that had only one associated color (Heat and Passion are only red; Strength and Evil are only black), by the ones that had many colors (Respect, Peace, Mourning), and by the ones that only had an assigned color in a single culture (pink Femininity and purple Cruelty in the West; yellow Deceit and orange Warmth in Japan; purple Gratitude for some Native Americans).”

"Colours In Cultures," by David McCandless and AlwaysWithHonor.com , Information is Beautiful, April 2009 :: via Fast Company

Are carrots protestant?

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “It's fun to be reminded how many of our 'natural' foods are in fact the result of a long collaboration between cultivator and cultivated, guided by the possibilities and limits of agriculture and by the choices and preferances of particular people in particular settings. According to the World Carrot Museum—let me say that again: the World Carrot Museum—the long orange carrot of supermarket and snowman-nose and Bugs Bunney fame was popularized by Dutch breeders in the 17th century, perhaps as a tribute to William of Orange, the the Dutch independance leader who became a Calvinist and helped get the 80 years war started. His grandson William III ruled the Netherlands and, later on, the British Isles, where he was responsible for the introduction of orange as the favored color of Irish protestants.”

from "Why are carrots orange? It is political," by Koert van Mensvoort, Next Nature, 16 August 2009 :: image via Wikipedia, unattributed

Skateland, by Christian Patterson

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love the cheery desolation in this photo. And, of course, the wings on the roller boot (or maybe it's the wheels on the winged boot). I always wondered how Mercury would come in for a smooth landing.”

"Skate Land" (2003), by Christian Patterson, from the portfolio series Sound Affects 2002–2005 :: via BOOOOOOOM!

Desert Reality, by Ed Freeman

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love LA-based photographer Ed Freeman's Desert Reality series, lovingly dead-on portraits of depopulated or abandoned buildings. There's a corresponding Urban Reality series as well, though there the lack of people is more unsettling. (Interestingly, Freeman's previous music career included a gig as producer of Don McLean's rock and roll ur-song "American Pie"). I particularly love the simultaneous warmth and foreboding in this picture, the way the overgrown tree in bloom is embracing the tiny house. We work to cultivate our gardens, but when we can work no more, our gardens return the favor.”

from "Desert Reality," photos by by Ed Freeman, opening in New York on 10 December 2009 :: via We can shoot too

Wedding Preparations, Davao City, Philippines, by Ryan Anson

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love the warmth of this photo, and the way it somehow makes its considerable action (the figures almost read like multiple exposures of a single, very active woman) nonetheless conveys a strong sense of peace and stillness, the pause and deep breath one takes before stepping out into a momentous event. The photographer writes: "I shot this image in early 2004 during a wedding near Davao City where a small Muslim minority group called the Kalagan people live amidst millions of Catholic residents. I was initially surprised that the bride let me in the changing room to spend time with she and her relatives as they applied the finishing touches to her dress and make-up. However, like many Filipinos in this region, Joanna and her family welcomed me as a guest and allowed me to photograph them in a very intimate environment."”

"Wedding Preparations, Davao City, Philippines," photo by Ryan Anson, The New Breed of Documentary Photographers, 2 October 2009

Food flags

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “From a delicious series of national-cuisines-as-national-flags dreamed and plated up to promote the Sydney International Food Festival. Other mouthwatering banners include Italy, Brazil, France, Korea, and Switzerland. Sadly, no African countries/cuisines are represented—perhaps we can get BetumiBlog on the case.”

"Lebanon (lavash, fattoush, and a herb sprig)," by WHYBIN for the Sydney International Food Festival 2009, blogged at The Kitchn, 29 September 2009 :: via GOOD

HIV, by Luke Jerram

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “Nearly all the images we see of viruses use false coloration, either for illustrative or aesthetic purposes. Glass sculptor Luke Jerram makes clear, colorless models of viruses and bacteria, working in consultation with microbiologests and under the glass-given physical constraints of gravity and fragility. The resulting works (including all the big names: E. coli, swine flu, Ebola, smallpox, and HIV) are stunning and sobering. Jerret's website quotes a note he received from an unnamed viewer: "I just saw a photo of your glass sculpture of HIV. I can't stop looking at it. Knowing that millions of those guys are in me, and will be a part of me for the rest of my life. Your sculpture, even as a photo, has made HIV much more real for me than any photo or illustration I've ever seen. It's a very odd feeling seeing my enemy, and the eventual likely cause of my death, and finding it so beautiful."”

"HIV," 22cm, from the sculpture series Glass Microbiology, by Luke Jerram Smithfield Gallery, London, 22 September–9 October 2009 :: via Freakonomics Blog

Gold Rush, by Francesca Gabbiani

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I'm really taken by the Canadian-born, Switzerland-raised, LA-based painter Francesca Gabbiani's rococo naturalism—many of her compositions serve as exquisite frames for empty fields of black or white, turning the paintings into a well or a mirror. It also reminds me of a certian sort of circular panoramic photography that I'm seeing more of these days.”

Gold Rush (2008), colored paper and gouache on paper, from "The Present," an exhibition of paintings by Francesca Gabbiana, at the Patrick Painter Gallery in Los Angeles, 12 September–24 October 2009 :: via Daily Serving

light-test.com

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “From a photo blog dedicated to test shots taken by professional photographers, usually with their assistants standing in for the models, often with light meters or color charts in hand to make sure the colors stay true in post-processing. As Jason Kottke notes, the photos are often charmingly more candid than the end results we see in ads and magazine spreads. I find it fascinating because it reveals how much the photographer's (and assistant's) work on setup and lighting contributes to the glamor of the finished product: all the photo assistants look quite good, and often much more interesting than the models and celebrities who'll be in the final image.”

"It's Too Damn Hot for This !!!," a light test for a BusinessWeek photo shoot, photo by Brad Trent of his assistant Kaz Sakuma, on a roof in the South Bronx, light-test.com, 18 August 2009 :: via kottke.org

Imaginary Happiness, by Ryan McGinness

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love this Manhattan artist's fun, just slightly edgy collages of overlapping symbols. He's even got free desktop wallpapers for your computer.”

Imaginary Happiness (acrylic on linen), by Ryan McGinness, Deitch Projects, New York, 7 March–18 April 2009 :: via designboom

Man on Flying Machine, by Yinka Shonibare

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “The Nigerian-British artist Yinka Shonibare has made a whole fascinating series of race/class remix sculptures featuring mannequins of 18th-century European dandies dressed in period clothing cut from "African" Dutch-wax fabrics (made in Manchester and the Netherlands, purchased by the artist in Brixton Market, London). He's currently got a big exhibition up at the Brooklyn Museum.”

"Man on Flying Machine" (2008), by Yinka Shonibare, James Cohan Gallery :: via Daily Serving

U.S. states as nations of equal population, map by James Richards

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “A brilliantly mindbending map-flag mashup. How many flags can you recognize without resorting to this cheat sheet? Happy July 4 from Culture-Making.com's curators—who are enjoying the holiday, respectively, in "Palestine" and "Montenegro."”

from Strange Maps, 6 June 2009

Sámi, The People, by Erika Larsen

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love the colors in Erika Larsen's photographs of the nomadic reindeer-herding Sámi people of northern Scandinavia, which manage to seem at once pale and deeply saturated, capturing, perhaps, a special trick of the Arctic light and of the culture's response to its possibilities.”

"Sunna & Laila," from Sámi, The People photographs by Erika Larsen, women in photography, 16 July 2009

Painting with Adam’s palette

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “Some floral thoughts for the Easter season.”

When Adam gardened, he imitated his Maker in a purely recreative act of cultivation and care. He did not need to subdue the earth in order for it to yield fruit. Rather, the plants were Adam's palette, and the earth was his canvas. There was nothing but delight in the Garden, for Eden itself means "garden of delight." When I dug my garden in Culpeper, I was preparing a canvas. And when I arranged the flowering plants and shrubs on the freshly turned ground, I saw already the pink peony blossoms with their heads turned down toward the blue iris, and the white phlox standing straight beside the slouching crimson bee balm. I breathed in the sweet honeysuckle and the citrus-scented bergamot.

I have said on occasion that I think gardening is nearer to godliness than theology. (By "theology" I mean the kind of formal written discourse that my special guild of academic theologians does, not the praise of God and communion with divine life that ought to inspire theology at its core.) True gardeners are both iconographers and theologians insofar as these activities are the fruit of prayer "without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17, NKJV). Likewise, true gardeners never cease to garden, not even in their sleep, because gardening is not just something they do. It is how they live.

from The Fragrance of God (2006), by Vivian Guroian :: via Speaking of Faith, thanks Emily!

On the Map, by Stefanie Posavec

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “Stefanie Posavec has created a beautiful series of pattern-maps based on the text of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, tree and slice and squiggle diagrams showing sentence-length and theme. This is, presumably, the text she worked from, which shows its own beauty of careful reading.”

Book photo, from On the Map, by Stefanie Posavec, hi-res images at NOTCOT, 2 April 2008 :: via FFFFOUND!

Pencil fence

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I assume this is Dutch, though I'm not quite sure why. I love how with its pointy crown it's actually a relatively high security barrier, but that the whole concept is so much fun that it seems entirely welcoming.”

Pencil fence photo, origin unknown :: via FFFFOUND! and the style files

Monroe Street NW, Washington, D.C.

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “I love the color choices on these two row houses, in the capital's Columbia Heights neighborhood.”

Off H Siddiah Road, Bangalore, India

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “An atypically abstract selection from my new favorite photo blog. Old bricks on new? New on old? And I'm not sure what exactly what's going on with the minimalist graffiti. The best explanation I can come up with is paint testing.”

photo by SloganMurugan, from his blog Which Main? What Cross?, November 2008

Franklin’s Footpath, by Gene Davis, 1972

2010-09-07T14:38:16Z

Nate: “Wikipedia: "Gene Davis (August 22, 1920–April 6, 1985) was a US painter known especially for paintings of vertical stripes of color, and a member of the group of abstract painters in Washington DC during the 1960s known as the Washington Color School. Davis was born in Washington DC in 1920, and spent nearly all his life there. Before he began to paint in 1949, he worked as a sportswriter, covering the Washington Redskins and other local teams. Working as a journalist in the late 1940s, he covered the Roosevelt and Truman presidential administrations, and was often President Truman's partner for poker games. . . . Though he worked in a variety of media and styles, including ink, oil, acrylic, video, and collage, Davis is best known by far for his acrylic paintings (mostly on canvas) of colorful vertical stripes, which he began to paint in 1958. The paintings typically repeat particular colors to create a sense of rhythm and repetition with variations. . . . In 1972 Davis created 'Franklin's Footpath,' which was at the time the world's largest artwork, by painting colorful stripes on the street in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the world's largest painting, 'Niagara' (43,680 square feet), in a parking lot in Lewiston, NY. His 'micro-paintings,' at the other extreme, were as small as 3/8 of an inch square."”

from "Artist Gene Davis putting finishing touches on his 414-ft-long ptg. 'Franklin’s Footpath,' painted on street in front of Philadelphia Museum of Art," photo by Henry Groskinsky, 1972 :: via The Best of LIFE