Brittney Sigley's SMP Presentation

I attended an Art History Talk on Color Theory given by Brittney Sigley. She did a great job at presenting the information in a way that non-art scholars could comprehend. I’d be lying if I said I comprehended all of the talk. Some of it was over my head but I definitely got the main points. Brittney talked about how minimalist artists used color as an object in their works. She talked about how minimalist painters did not paint things onto objects but just painted objects in a monochromatic color. She talked about how the color then becomes an object in the work of art itself. She said that the color was a deliberate choice by the artist and that this was part of the reason why it could be viewed as an object. She showed many examples of minimalist works that utilized color heavily as an object. One really cool one was a dark box with all of these colors projected inside of it. The colors in conjunction with the darkness of the box really distorted the sense of space, making for a really cool effect .

Overall this presentation really opened my eyes to new ways of looking at art. I was really impressed with the way that Brittney was able to introduce this new idea to me, and really make me believe it and understand it. Before this talk I never would have thought of looking at color as an object in a work of art. I always just saw color as color, as being there. I never really put too much thought in to the color of any work of art other than super traditional paintings. I would see something and go, “Oh look that’s green,”  this presentation has allowed me to start to think about why that something is green and what the green is saying or doing in the work of art. The presentation also helped close a gap in my mind that existed  for a while. Abstract and minimalist artworks never really spoke to me, I never could understand them or see the merit in them. Our discussions in class have helped me understand and appreciate abstract art more, but I never really got minimalism. Now I have the tools to look at a minimalist piece and see beyond what I could see before.  By viewing color as an object I think that take color and use it as another way to understand what is going on with a minimalist artwork. Great Job Brittney, you taught an art challenged individual something about minimalism!