COLOUR AND ITS DUAL FUNCTIONS - by Gloria ikibah
Colour has a dual function; it fulfills aesthetic requirements, and imparts a certain meaning and tone to a work of art. The significance of colors depends on the cultural and social scenario they are being used in. That is to say, the same color can stand for different things depending on the situation it is being used in. The color white, is often associated with purity, truth and innocence, is in China, associated with death. Consider the color blue: In China, blue signifies immortality, In Colombia, it is associated with soap, for Hindus, blue is the color of Krishna, for the Jews, blue symbolizes holiness, in the Middle East, blue is a protective color, purple or violet stand for royalty in Africa and Israel, green is for productivity and fertility, black for death and red danger.
"Colours can be classified as warm or cool. Warm colours such as red, orange, or yellow; tend to be exciting, emphatic, and affirmative. In addition to these psychological effects, optically they seem to advance and expand." "Cool colours- blue, green, or violet- is psychologically calming, soothing, or depressive, and unephatic; optically, they appear to recede and contract. These characteristics are relative, however, since intensity and value also affect the spatial action of warm and cool colours. Intensely coloured shapes appear larger than duller ones of the same size. Light-valued shapes seem to advance and expand while dark-valued ones seem to recede and contract."
We may then ask ourselves what the Significance of Color in a work of art is. Artists choose colors to produce a certain mood or atmosphere; to create space, light, and shadow; or to introduce symbolic associations. In some cases color choice is the result of cost and availability of pigments. In this self-guided tour, you will explore how color in works of art from different historical periods is used to create meaning, direct the viewer’s eye, or express emotion. Like we all know art is an expression of an impression most artists express themselves with the use of colours and pigments. From their work and the colours they use, we are able to tell the kind of persons they are for instance from an art work and the colours used you can tell if the person is quiet by nature or noisy. Some artist make use of colours that are warm like yellow, orange, pink, red and a little touch of purple for such a work we can say that the artist is not a quiet person an so would want to be notice from her works. Some other artists make use mostly of cool colours like blue, green, yellow orca, brown, and earthen colours then those artists are on the quiet side and do not want to be noticed.
For Lillian Chizoba Pilaku a visual artist working with the National Gallery of Art as a curator, Looking at Chizoba’s works we can see that she is a quiet and reserved person with her use of colours in “NLECHA” depicts women as beautiful but complex species another is “ARE THESE AFRICAN BEAUTIES?” this work she says addresses the issues of misconceptions of true beauty in the African society. She made use of colours like green, yellow, ochre, blue, grey, white and brown, Lillian loves the use of earth colours I would rather not say dull colours but it tells a lot of her person. Her colours are a reflection of the person she really is a quite and reserved person if I must say, though occasionally her colours go very brilliant and hot but she would rather stay earthy though. Lillian in ASILI shows the Uli symbol of gossip-this shows that without an itching ear, there would be no wagging tongues. Uli are symbols used in Ibo land for communication in the olden day’s gossip if you wish to prefer. Here she made use of colours like ochre, yellow, brown and even black to express her quiet and reserved nature; we can tell the simplicity of the artist and not totally a meticulous person but an organized artist. From Lillian’s works it is clear that she is a very neat person and wanting to be detailed sometimes if not all the time. This makes her unique in her works and stand out.
Speaking to SHEWORLD magazine, Joy Utille a visual artist sees art as a medium of expression for her she is of the opinion that “you can tell a person from her painting” she explains further that from the colours an artist use to paint tell a lot about her character and person. From a work of art you can tell if the artist is a careful and detailed person, how neat the work is tell a lot about how principled the artist is. For Joy art is a means of tell who a person is.
For Azuka Freda Chukwuma the director of Bez'El Arts Studio, in Ikoyi lagos her works tells a lot about her through the use of warm colours. From Freda’s paintings it tell a lot about her, the use of red, orange, purple, green which are more prominent tell that Freda Chukwuma is not on the quiet side, she is very outspoken and we can see that she is very detailed in her work of art. Speaking to SHEWORLD magazine Freda tell us “As a little girl I always loved colours, I remember wishing I could become a Disney cartoon character and live in a world full of bright clean colours. Gaining admission into school to study fine arts was a dream come true for me. When I was finally selected to specialise in painting in my 3 hundred level, for me my life as an artist had just started”. For Freda her works tells a lot about her person with the use of red and orange which are prominent makes a statement that she is not a quiet artist and is an activist that’s why most of her works depicts or shows the woman. For Freda, colour is life and we go about our lives living with colours without realizing, the sky is either blue, white or gray if its harmattan season. The ground on which we walk on is brown, brownish red or gray depending on the part of the country you live in, the trees are green, the birds on it different colours even the cock that crows in the morning is so beautifully feathered, water can be blue, green or aqua depending on if its a beach, ocean or gutter water.
Colour for Freda ”is a way of life and that is why in my paintings I use them lavishly.I also love vibrant brush strokes because as much as I love colours I dont like realism in painting”. Freda who from her works of art is very detailed had this to say “i love to add elements that we otherwise do not see but feel.
She tends to show the rich physique of the African woman richly endowed by her maker, also adding the African woman is never on the quiet side with the rich endowment from her creator. This can be seen in the painting she titled " rhythm" the woman more or less fuses with the rhythm of her dance. In the work titled "harvest of culture" her use of colour tell us that she is a happy artist and bright in all she does, her works of art it shows that Freda is very beautiful outwards and inwards, she has a very lovely heart and above all very accommodating. For Freda her passion for the African woman and her heritage cannot be over emphasized. Speaking to SHEWORLD she adds “we are blessed as Africans to have such beautiful lifestyle of gele, aso oke and all our other african regalia, we live in colours whether we realise it or not”. This she tends to explain further in the work titled “Nigerian fashion heritage”. Freda adds “I intend to explore this philosophy and make the most beautiful master pieces yet to be painted”.
Colour has a dual function; it fulfills aesthetic requirements, and imparts a certain meaning and tone to a work of art. The significance of colors depends on the cultural and social scenario they are being used in. That is to say, the same color can stand for different things depending on the situation it is being used in. The color white, is often associated with purity, truth and innocence, is in China, associated with death. Consider the color blue: In China, blue signifies immortality, In Colombia, it is associated with soap, for Hindus, blue is the color of Krishna, for the Jews, blue symbolizes holiness, in the Middle East, blue is a protective color, purple or violet stand for royalty in Africa and Israel, green is for productivity and fertility, black for death and red danger.
"Colours can be classified as warm or cool. Warm colours such as red, orange, or yellow; tend to be exciting, emphatic, and affirmative. In addition to these psychological effects, optically they seem to advance and expand." "Cool colours- blue, green, or violet- is psychologically calming, soothing, or depressive, and unephatic; optically, they appear to recede and contract. These characteristics are relative, however, since intensity and value also affect the spatial action of warm and cool colours. Intensely coloured shapes appear larger than duller ones of the same size. Light-valued shapes seem to advance and expand while dark-valued ones seem to recede and contract."
We may then ask ourselves what the Significance of Color in a work of art is. Artists choose colors to produce a certain mood or atmosphere; to create space, light, and shadow; or to introduce symbolic associations. In some cases color choice is the result of cost and availability of pigments. In this self-guided tour, you will explore how color in works of art from different historical periods is used to create meaning, direct the viewer’s eye, or express emotion. Like we all know art is an expression of an impression most artists express themselves with the use of colours and pigments. From their work and the colours they use, we are able to tell the kind of persons they are for instance from an art work and the colours used you can tell if the person is quiet by nature or noisy. Some artist make use of colours that are warm like yellow, orange, pink, red and a little touch of purple for such a work we can say that the artist is not a quiet person an so would want to be notice from her works. Some other artists make use mostly of cool colours like blue, green, yellow orca, brown, and earthen colours then those artists are on the quiet side and do not want to be noticed.
For Lillian Chizoba Pilaku a visual artist working with the National Gallery of Art as a curator, Looking at Chizoba’s works we can see that she is a quiet and reserved person with her use of colours in “NLECHA” depicts women as beautiful but complex species another is “ARE THESE AFRICAN BEAUTIES?” this work she says addresses the issues of misconceptions of true beauty in the African society. She made use of colours like green, yellow, ochre, blue, grey, white and brown, Lillian loves the use of earth colours I would rather not say dull colours but it tells a lot of her person. Her colours are a reflection of the person she really is a quite and reserved person if I must say, though occasionally her colours go very brilliant and hot but she would rather stay earthy though. Lillian in ASILI shows the Uli symbol of gossip-this shows that without an itching ear, there would be no wagging tongues. Uli are symbols used in Ibo land for communication in the olden day’s gossip if you wish to prefer. Here she made use of colours like ochre, yellow, brown and even black to express her quiet and reserved nature; we can tell the simplicity of the artist and not totally a meticulous person but an organized artist. From Lillian’s works it is clear that she is a very neat person and wanting to be detailed sometimes if not all the time. This makes her unique in her works and stand out.
Speaking to SHEWORLD magazine, Joy Utille a visual artist sees art as a medium of expression for her she is of the opinion that “you can tell a person from her painting” she explains further that from the colours an artist use to paint tell a lot about her character and person. From a work of art you can tell if the artist is a careful and detailed person, how neat the work is tell a lot about how principled the artist is. For Joy art is a means of tell who a person is.
For Azuka Freda Chukwuma the director of Bez'El Arts Studio, in Ikoyi lagos her works tells a lot about her through the use of warm colours. From Freda’s paintings it tell a lot about her, the use of red, orange, purple, green which are more prominent tell that Freda Chukwuma is not on the quiet side, she is very outspoken and we can see that she is very detailed in her work of art. Speaking to SHEWORLD magazine Freda tell us “As a little girl I always loved colours, I remember wishing I could become a Disney cartoon character and live in a world full of bright clean colours. Gaining admission into school to study fine arts was a dream come true for me. When I was finally selected to specialise in painting in my 3 hundred level, for me my life as an artist had just started”. For Freda her works tells a lot about her person with the use of red and orange which are prominent makes a statement that she is not a quiet artist and is an activist that’s why most of her works depicts or shows the woman. For Freda, colour is life and we go about our lives living with colours without realizing, the sky is either blue, white or gray if its harmattan season. The ground on which we walk on is brown, brownish red or gray depending on the part of the country you live in, the trees are green, the birds on it different colours even the cock that crows in the morning is so beautifully feathered, water can be blue, green or aqua depending on if its a beach, ocean or gutter water.
Colour for Freda ”is a way of life and that is why in my paintings I use them lavishly.I also love vibrant brush strokes because as much as I love colours I dont like realism in painting”. Freda who from her works of art is very detailed had this to say “i love to add elements that we otherwise do not see but feel.
She tends to show the rich physique of the African woman richly endowed by her maker, also adding the African woman is never on the quiet side with the rich endowment from her creator. This can be seen in the painting she titled " rhythm" the woman more or less fuses with the rhythm of her dance. In the work titled "harvest of culture" her use of colour tell us that she is a happy artist and bright in all she does, her works of art it shows that Freda is very beautiful outwards and inwards, she has a very lovely heart and above all very accommodating. For Freda her passion for the African woman and her heritage cannot be over emphasized. Speaking to SHEWORLD she adds “we are blessed as Africans to have such beautiful lifestyle of gele, aso oke and all our other african regalia, we live in colours whether we realise it or not”. This she tends to explain further in the work titled “Nigerian fashion heritage”. Freda adds “I intend to explore this philosophy and make the most beautiful master pieces yet to be painted”.
It is obvious indeed that art is an expression of an impression art helps tell about our person and not only the aesthetic beauty of the work of art but the conceptual reality that we bring out from such works. I must then add that all art pieces whether realism, expressionism or what you call it, there is a picture of abstraction in every piece of art if you look deeply into it with your inner eyes or your minds eye.
We can boldly look at a work of art and tell who the producer is and what characteristics he or she possesses.
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