In 1966, John Baldessari burned his entire collection of paintings. The ashes were returned in Nine urns, One URN was the size used for infants. A picture of these urns, along with a jar of cookies baked with the cremains, became part of an exhibit entitled, “The Cremation Project (1971)”
arbitrary colors
Here lie the hues
chosen from impulse
Gold instead of lemon-yellow, say
Scarlet instead of red,
Random colors mixed with
Pattern.
His choice of lines, shapes, colors,
Repeated in a planned way
complimentary colors
Here lie the hues
opposite each other
on the wheel
Red and green, blue and orange, yellow and violet,
Antonym colors mixed with
Perspective.
His way of creating the illusion of depth
on a two-dimensional surface
cool colors
Here lie the hues
that chill
green, blue, and violet and their offspring
turquoise, cyan, and purple,
mostly calming colors mixed with
Proportion.
His connection of the parts to a whole
and with each other
intermediate colors
Here lie the hues
next to each other
on the wheel
yellow with orange, orange with red, red with violet,
violet with blue, blue with green,
neighbors mixed with
Point of view.
His angle on the subject
neutral colors
Here lie the hues
of low saturation
the whites, the greys, the blacks, the browns,
colors without color
used as background to unify diversity, mixed with
Principles of design.
His way of using line, shape, form
The elements of art
primary colors
Here lie the hues
from which all others are made
blue, red, and yellow,
they cannot be made by mixing other colors
autocephalous, mixed with
Proficiency.
His learned mastery of
craft
secondary colors
Here lie the hues
made by mixing the primaries
in equal parts
red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green,
red and blue make purple,
offspring mixed with
Process.
His sequential operation using various techniques
warm colors
Here lie the hues
of tender
visual temperature
surrounding orange on the wheel
red, red-orange, orange, orange-yellow, yellow,
fire’s color mixed with
Pensiveness.
His brooding
the absence of color
here
the empty infant urn
in which the artist’s words resound,
“I was truly sick.
I had no idea what I would do next
But I knew it wouldn’t be painting.”
Carson P. Hardy is a grandpa and retired teacher and theologian. He lives in Norfolk, Ct.
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