shades of grey and relative color

Black & White Days - enlarge - Digital Painting / Art Prints - 2006

I guess if I can talk about the typical color around here and show a painting with a flourish of color - which is both here and not seen, I can just as easily move to a piece that was intentionally done in black and white.

Color is relative - meaning the colors adjacent change the color one is looking at - both the power and trouble with colored matting. Black and white for most of us is more a construct of our understanding - black and white thinking - doesn’t really allow for all the shades of grey.

However, there is something really powerful in just black and white - the world is simplified and bold. I suppose its simplicity also helps us to appreciate how complex and rich a world with color really is.

Having said all this - it is rather obvious that above has many shades of grey.

See Also

• Black & White Thinking: Reducing Categories to Either/Or - Flaws in Reasoning and Arguments - found this to be a thoughtful discussion about the subject - how this relates to art is more my discussion
• Absolute Pitch / Relative Color - scroll down this is quite an interesting subject - more about absolute memory, but still makes you wonder since context is such a part of perception
• Digital Painting in Black and White - the only other piece I have featured done in black and white - from pieces of a dream - kind of a black and white Outhouse Studios