In Vivid Color: Pushing the Boundaries of Perception in Contemporary Art

The exhibition uses color as an opportunity to investigate how people perceive a non-fixed reality: the ever-shifting environment in which we must discern the real from the illusionary. The installations by Wheat, Finch, Colon, and Steinkamp are highly experiential, creating an environment that will engage each viewer uniquely, determined by the personal nature of color perception. Despite this subjective element, audiences experience the immersive installations simultaneously, fostering a sense of communion: we are united while remaining apart. This dichotomy replicates the sensation many feel as the COVID-19 pandemic requires much of our human contact to be mediated by technology, the media used by Colon, Finch, and Steinkamp.

In contrast to the grand scale of the initial four installations, the 11 paintings and works on paper in the adjacent gallery allow for more intimate considerations of color’s potency. Whether abstract or figurative, each composition allows for different investigations into how color intersects with the work’s subject and meaning, in addition to affecting the  viewer’s space even when confined to a two-dimensional patch of wall.