This weekend I spent most of my time enjoying the Affordable Art Fair, a wonderful annual event on our doorstep in Battersea Park. The fun is to be able to pop back everyday and see what catches my eye, not only do the exhibits change throughout the show but often I miss things on my first and or second or third visit! This year although there wasn't anything I was desperate to hang on our walls there was a wonderful piece that did keep drawing in and I kept going back to, Autogenesis, 2016 by Jo Bradford represented by Eyestorm.
"Jo Bradford's cameraless works are essentially photographs of photography, with the photographic means being the object and the medium the subject. By using only the primary tools of analogue photography: light and paper, in a sense 'photography' itself makes its own self-portraits.
Inspired by "Interaction of Colour", a book on colour theory by Josef Albers, Bradford's 2016 work 'Autogenesis' consists of 15 limited edition photographic prints taken from original luminograms, which she makes by tracing light onto light sensitive paper. Creating luminograms is an extremely time-consuming process that takes immense skill and patience. In a completely black darkroom, masks are used to create areas of shadow, which alters the path of light on its way to the paper during the exposure of brief flashes. In this blind space, which light is refracted into the colours of the rainbow and those colours are captured onto the photographic paper to make individual works of 'Autogenesis'" Words by Angie Davey, Creative Director, Eyestorm.
Colour plays a huge roll in my everyday life and work and this piece particularly inspired me. What roll does colour play in our homes and what emotions does it evoke? Below are extracts from a wonderful and thought provoking piece in Elle Decoration.
"Colour can make you happy. A splash of yellow to brighten your day or a cooling blue to calm your mood; the shades you choose have the power to affect your wellbeing.
Red is bold and elemental: the colour of fire, blood and passion. 'Red Protects itself. No colour is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on the alert against the spectrum' Derek Jarman, Film Director
Orange is brash and eye-catching attention seeker. 'Orange is the happiest colour' Frank Sinatra, Musician
Yellow is confident and optimistic. 'Yellow excites a warm, agreeable impression... the eye is gladdened, the heart cheered, a glow seems at once to breathe towards us' Goethe, Poet
Green is associated with luck, money, regeneration and cleanliness. 'Absolute green is the most restful colour, lacking any undertone of joy, grief or passion' Wassily Kandinsky, Artist
Blue is both optimistic and spiritual. 'Blue has no dimensions, it is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not' Yves Klein, Artist
Indigo often feels dependable. 'You ain't been blue 'til you've had the mood indigo' Ella Fitzgerald, Musician
Black, far from satanic and gloomy, black can be comforting and restful. 'Black is lazy and easy, but mysterious. Above all it says this: I don't bother you - don't bother me' Yohji Yamamoto, Designer
White makes us think of cleanliness. 'God paints in many colours; but he never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when he paints in white' GK Chesterton, Author"
Extracts from an article written by Kassia St Clair in Elle Decoration, April 2016.
