Those dramatic purples from the first installation of the Color Studies are a tough act to follow. Where the purples are vivid, saturated and bold, the whites are subtle, quiet and understated. But I have a thing for this color.
When I was in art school, I spent the last year of my program producing work that was restricted to a white palette. There were two installations: a set of five Christmas trees whose limbs had been sawed off, standing upright on bases inspired by the contours of topographical maps, and each containing one or two small drawers, using the branch nubs as drawer pulls. My final project was an installation guided by an idea of abandoned domestic spaces – I covered all surfaces in a saltwater paper mache, so that the chair, lamp, table and picture frame had a crusted, faintly glittering, salty patina. I’m not sure why, exactly, I’m so intrigued by white – especially multiple shades of white that provide a subtle variation in texture and tone – but there is something really profound about white spaces. Perhaps this is why I love snow so much. It also explains all the blown out images and minimalist overtures of so much of the photographs on the site – especially earlier images. Call it my white period.
Here’s the work I made:
by Kimberley
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