Gallery B612 - Abstraction in Blue

Today we have the terms navy, indigo, aqua, cyan, teal and others. However, humanity lacked a word for the color through the time of Homer who, in the Iliad and Odyssey used the phrase “wine-dark” to refer to the sea. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance the use of ultramarine blue pigment in artwork became a symbol of power and wealth as the pigment itself was worth more in its weight than gold. By the time George Gershwin released Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, colors were often associated with moods and emotions. The infamous Jazz composition further illustrated how something could reflect the mood of a color through sound alone.

How does the use of blue in an artwork today affect its composition? What is the symbolism if any? This show aims to bring together a collection of international abstract artworks that utilize blue in a fashion vital to their…