17 march 2022, Flor Linckens
Associations with the colour pink in Rutger Brandt Gallery
Did you know that people argue more often in yellow kitchens and that babies tend to cry more in yellow baby rooms? Artists, scientists and psychologists have been studying the ways in which we perceive colours and the ways in which colours interact for centuries. Sometimes a colour or colour combination is intrinsically linked to a specific artist, such as International Klein Blue (Yves Klein), Vantablack (Anish Kapoor) or a combination of primary colours (Piet Mondriaan). Occasionally, we forget that colour can also be a social construct, which is most evident in the contrast of pink and blue. Until 26 March, Rutger Brandt Gallery is hosting a group exhibition that focuses on the colour pink. It includes works by Yigal Ozeri, Myles Bennett, Dimitar Genchev, Thijs Jansen, Johan de Wit, Sebastian Hosu, Zsofia Schweger, Timo Grimm, Matthias Schaareman and Dirk Hardy.
Yigal Ozeri, Untitled; A New York Story, 2020, Rutger Brandt Gallery
Pink as a typical girl's colour is so intertwined with our society that we don’t actively think about it, but it is reflected in our daily lives in various ways, for example in the form of a 'pink tax'. This means that products marketed specifically for women are typically more expensive than the same products for men — from razors and shampoo to children's bicycles. Yet the colour pink has only been associated with girls and women since the early twentieth century, before that the situation was the opposite. You may also wonder if these traditional colour associations, still incredibly popular given the ubiquitous gender reveal parties, still fits in our current society. In a time when more and more people accept that society cannot simply be divided into two genders.
Johan de Wit, Untitled, 2021, Rutger Brandt Gallery
Perhaps a visit to the exhibition at Rutger Brandt Gallery is a chance to look at the colour pink in a new, fresh way. The works on display were not made for the exhibition — some works date from 2018, for example — and therefore offer an excellent opportunity to think about the associations that you have with the colour pink. Why did the artist choose this colour for this particular work and what was the intended effect? You will also see a wide variety of works, from a room where a bomb attack must have taken place (in a work by Dimitar Genchev) to an abstract work by Johan de Wit. And from a dancing pensioner by Yigal Ozeri to a mysterious tableau by Dirk Hardy.
Dirk Hardy, Vivarium, Episode 8: The Wheel, 2022, Rutger Brandt Gallery
