Exhibition Review: Chromotherapy
Ecotone #937 (Bainbridge Island, WA 11.3.20, Dawn to Dusk, Draped on Lilac, Intermittent Storms, Tears), 2020, Unique Dynamic Cyanotype © Meghann Riepenhoff, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Written by Jan Alex
Chromotherapy, also known as color therapy, is based on the concept that color has therapeutic properties. The idea that color can heal the body and cure ailments is of course contrary to science, but what of the mind? In the Haines Gallery’s first exhibit emerging from the pandemic, “Chromotherapy”, a diverse collection of work serves as a reminder of color’s ability to elicit emotion, breathe life, and transform our perception. A celebration of color and light, the exhibit is a welcome sign of a return to normalcy following a complicated year.
Aptly named after an often-criticized scientific theory, the exhibit is a fitting testament to the ways in which light and color inform our experience and articulate the unspoken. Bringing together a diverse selection of work from nine artists the collection is fascinating medley, including Ai WeiWei’s sculptures, photographs by John Chiara, and Meghann Riepenhoff’s dynamic cyanotypes. Diverse in medium and method, the works engage with each other through a mutual conversation on the properties and potential of light and color.
Sutter Street at Larkin Street, 2017, Camera Obscura Fujiflex Photograph, Unique © John Chiara, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Throughout the exhibit the work of color and light is undeniably to inform and investigate. For example, in John Chiara’s camera obscura photographs, color, light, and shadow are inverted to the point of abstraction. The resulting images of San Francisco’s streets reveal facets of the city that are both completely new and strikingly familiar. In Andy Goldsworthy’s video work, Red river, the flowing stream, discolored by iron-oxide, becomes an undeniable visual metaphor for the connection between human life and the earth.
Nan and Brian in Bed, 2013, Duratrans transparency and lightbox, © Kota Ezawa, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Color’s potential to inform is apparent throughout the exhibit. In Kota Ezawa’s pared-down reproduction of Nan Goldin’s seminal image, Nan and Brian in Bed, color retains a connection between the original and the recreation, a reminder of light and colors role as our minds reference points. In Meghann Riepenhoff’s cyanotypes, the artist achieves vivid azure hues and a sense of natural movement without even using a camera. Dependent on weather and the elements, and entirely unique to the moment of creation, these images remind us of the beautiful and sublime qualities of our natural world
Red river rock. Dumfriesshire, Scotland. 19 August 2016, 2016, Digital Video, Color, Sound, 9 minutes © Andy Goldsworthy, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Some works endeavor to create and transform the light in the room, such as Won Ju Lim’s sculptures. Simple and unassuming boxes also allow light to pass through them, creating colorful shadows in the process. Immaterial and intangible, these sculptures of light and color are a fascinating reminder of the interactions between light and our material environment.
Kiss D3, 2007, Plexiglass, light © Won Ju Lim, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Kiss D3, 2007, Plexiglass, light © Won Ju Lim, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Widely varied, fascinating, and creative, the collection on display in “Chromotherapy” does well to heal our collective pandemic blues. The work on display certainly has the power to uplift, and together the collection serves as an invigorating reminder of the subtle beauty of the natural world that colors our lives every day.
On display until September 5th, “Chromotherapy” is on display in-person and online at the Haines Gallery in San Francisco.
