Color Language: Red and Blue, 2014

The screen-printed books, Red and Blue, are an expansion on artist Rachel Marks’ series Color Language, which explores relationships between color, language, and sound, through paintings of recorded sound waves.

In the Emergent Art Space interview with artist Rachel Marks, she discusses the Color Language series:

“I asked different people in Paris to say the three primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (purple, green, orange) colors in their language. I wanted to discover how the perception of color changes through different cultural representations or language. I did paintings of the different sound waves for the colors. I wanted to reveal the visual differences between each of the sounds chosen for the colors in each language.”

In Red and Blue, Marks focuses in on one color, turning the sound waves for the spoken words “red” and “blue” into two accordion-style books:

“Each book represents the visual representation of the color. The covers are monochrome and the books unfold in an accordion style. When the book is opened, the color expands through the sound waves of the word in different languages.”

“The series was created in Paris, France with the help of eight people who all speak different languages. Using their voice, the sound waves of the word for the color in each language were recorded and translated into paintings, which are illustrated in this book. This silkscreen project examines the monochrome, considering the diversity of its symbolism through language.”

Rachel Marks is a young artist living and working in Paris, France. She earned a BFA from Oklahoma State University during which she participated in an artist residency in Siena (2009) and studied abroad at the University of Hertfordshire in London (2010). After a year in Prague (2011 - 2012) teaching art to children, she obtained a Master’s degree at the Higher School of Art and Design in Grenoble, France (2013). Rachel has exhibited her work internationally in the United States, Italy, England and France. Visit her website here. 

Check out the Emergent Art Space artist interview with Rachel Marks on the Forum.