As a class, we took a virtual tour of the exhibition “blue.” at the Nassau County Museum of Art. The color blue can mean a lot of different things to many different people. It can represent things like the sky and sea, and associate itself heavily with matters like freedom, imagination, loyalty, and faith. Different tones of blue can set a mood within art and can convey different emotions throughout. During the exhibition, these three-painting stood out to me the most for its compositions and how they convey blue in their own ways.
The first painting is ‘Huxley’s Guide to Switzerland, 2011’ created by Christopher Winter, a Berlin-based English artist. This work combines storytelling with qualities of intimate prints of Japan. This is shown by the figures soaring over the lake, while keeping the rest of the surroundings untouched and peaceful. Winter has expressed that the blue within the painting is something ‘transcendental and soothing’. To me, this painting feels oddly serene and freeing. Seeing the figures able to travel around, the world seeming to freeze around them, like they’re the only things to truly exist within this universe.
The second piece is ‘Beulen Birne [Bulgy Pear], 1934’ by Paul Klee. This piece follows the life of a pear, seemingly insignificant but still holds a small impact. Klee talked about how within this painting he “reveals the reality that is behind visible things, thus expressing the belief that the visible world is merely an isolated case in relation to the universe…”, which is expressed within his own ‘God-like’ role by creating his own ‘deformed’ pear. The blue in this piece seems to convey the isolation he was attempting to express, seemingly putting this pear into a box, nothing truly in its surroundings.
The third piece is ‘The Direction of Migration (Diptych), 2019’ by Han Qin, apart of his cyanotype series on the theme of immigration. This comes from her own experience of going from the “water city” of Hangzhou, located in China, to Long Island, New York. She expresses how she felt lost until one morning while watching birds nesting and recalling how she watched her fellow passengers on the flight scatter upon arrival at JFK to seek their new homes. Qin at one time in her life danced professionally, so she choreographed a ballet based on these works. This is shown in this piece by how the figure is seemingly within motion throughout the work. The blue in this piece to me shows a new beginning, a sense of figuring yourself out with all the erratic motions shown, and a newfound freedom.
I really enjoyed seeing the pieces within this exhibition, they all convey an interesting and beautiful story and tie in the color nicely into the theme.
