yellowish blue
Vision is incredible, and incredibly biased. Our minds are adept in seeking out and enhancing contrast present in both color and light. We’re tuned to track and follow edges, adjust for relative changes in our environment, and perceive meaning in context. In short, we’re a long shot away from an objective digital camera that takes in pixel by pixel.
Learning the neuroscience behind vision can’t help but take me back to revisit optical illusions and the classics of our best artists. Monet’s Impression, soleil levant shows a sun and light with essentially no change in luminescence, only color contrast. De sterrennacht of van Gogh contrasts the three primary color receptors in our eyes. This mastered use of a perception present in us all accentuated their works above others.
A break from the aforementioned studies was a small weekend road trip out to Rochester to take in an art show. An urban explorer club started Art Awake a few years back to reclaim an abandoned urban space on an annual basis and fill it with a variety of hundreds of artists. It was a pleasant time and much needed fill of the created and imagined; coupled also with a visit to James Brown’s Place — serving bottomless mugs of coffee on linoleum counter-tops edged with aluminum. Perfecto.