I admit, I was not used to thinking of spaces in bold reds, blues, and yellows aside from the work of De Stijl—the early modernist and part of the Dutch movement—which advocated for abstraction and universality by being reduced down to the essentials of forms and colors. The current exhibition is by Swiss contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone in collaboration with emerging artist Tarek Lakhrissi, both in the mentorship program by Reiffers Art Initiatives, brought me into spaces in those primary colors. The two transformed and energized the entirety of the art foundation in Paris’s 17th arrondissement into a magical experience in color, a building recently redesigned by Brussels-based architect Olivier Dwek.
While I am not personally a color person, the work of Rondinone has for years captured my attention and love for the way in which it utilizes color as an agent of emotions, meditation, and melancholy. In this installation called ‘Who is afraid of Red, Blue, and Yellow?‘ ‘ (me!), the two have transformed the three-story building in primary colors with the intention of invoking an emotional response. Each floor was dedicated to one of the three primary colors while also presenting their artwork, including Ugo Rondinone’s Clocks and Tarek Lakhrissi’s bed-sculpture Sick Sad World. The color affects the mood of the gallery space, and promotes us to ask: How do I feel? How does each color affect my own mood?
The exhibition will be on view until December 1st. This is a great opportunity to investigate how you really feel in color.
