I met Nici Jost in Shanghai during “artistic talks”. Modest, young lady with pink hairs. The team of the talk was “on pink”. I cannot say that I’m a big fan of the pink colour but it made me look on it from a different perspective.
Nici came to Shanghai for an art residency in Swatch Art Peace Hotel with her Pink project and research about this colour in Shanghai (official website of this project http://www.pinkproject.ch). As a result of this development will be a book about pink colour where the artist will accumulate all information about her PINK COLOUR SYSTEM (© Nici Jost, 2016).
“The essential element of Nici Jost’s work is the exploration of the sublime tensions between technology and nature, space and perception, identity and image. She challenges the passive “consumption” of art in a crowded environment and provokes questions about the broader, often disquieting, implications of our ever-accelerating technological evolution and the position of the individual within.”[i]
Such an attitude to the colour triggered thoughts about works of Malevich and his research in this field. 'Working on the colour chart, trying to establish the law through experience and observing the living human prism, I noticed that the line of colour development through the centres of culture has its time, and consequently, the degree of consciousness, or the degree of culture, due to which it and there is this or that form of things and colouring. Thus, each thing, as well as the relation to colour, shows, from my point of view, the level of culture of awareness. ... Conformity, according to the schedule of colour perception, it is possible to establish the height of the culture of society and of each individual person. ... If a nation puts all its cases in colour, then the level of its culture is at a certain place behind the one that came to black and white.'[ii]
Thus, Malevich assumed that color is perceived through the prism of own perception of man, through his experience and worldview. Accordingly, Nicky gives an example of the development of society through pink. Although this color exists in nature, but now there are many new artificial shades and other gradations of pink. Out of Malevich’s logic can it mean the more colours society develop the more it goes towards degradation?
It is interesting that up to what limit can color develop further? What other colors can develop further? Can a new color be created?
As this color has new manifestations it became interesting to me how this color developed in my (Russian) culture. Because the cold climate and gloomy weather can give other materialization and relation to this colour. I hope that one day Nicky will be able to analyze this aspect in Russia.
Bibliography and references
[i] Isabel Balzer, balzer projects about Nici Jost (online) Available from: http://www.pinkproject.ch/about (Accessed 04/07/2018)
[ii] Казимир Северинович Малевич 2003 Том 4. Трактаты и лекции первой половины 1920-х годов Собрание сочинений в пяти томах Москва, Гилея (online) Available from: http://ruslit.traumlibrary.net/book/malevich-ss05-04/malevich-ss05-04.html#work003001 (Accessed 04/07/2018)
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