“Once one has had the experience of the interaction of color, one finds it necessary to re-integrate one’s whole idea of color and seeing in order to preserve the sense of unity...When you really understand that each color is changed by a changed environment, you eventually find that you have learned about life as well as about color.”
J osef Albers Study for Homage to the Square: Soaring represents a fundamentally significant canvas within the artist’s extensive oeuvre that delved into the exploration of color theory and geometry. A disarmingly simple work, Soaring cites three simple superimposed squares of paint applied directly onto the canvas with a palette knife from the tube, with the ambition to highlight the power and seduction of color and how it is perceived by the human eye. Created on the artist’s archetypal Masonite surface, the present work rigorously plunders the aesthetic potential of geometry via different tones or intensities of navy blue, brick, and cherry red.
Albers’ chromatic theories were firmly embedded in the belief that color is never to be understood rationally but always in terms of its effects on the psyche. Whereas Goethe’s famous color circle was derived hierarchically from the wisdom of natural science, Albers’ approach was one of dialogue, juxtaposition, and above all experimentation. Albers' vast research into the nature of color and its subjective perceptions compound his visionary role as one of the most influential art teachers and theorists of the Twentieth Century. Confirming Albers’ status as one of the most important artists of the post-war era, Homage to the Square: Soaring offers a superb blending of the artist’s conceptual brilliance and unique aesthetic.
