SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, USA presented a solo exhibition dedicated to Carlos Cruz-Diez’s work entitled Chroma.
"Chroma," from the Latinized form of the Greek 'khroma' (referring to the color and quality of skin), evolved to indicate the quality or intensity of a hue by 1889. Like this word, the titular exhibition considers Cruz-Diez’s fundamental concerns regarding the transformative possibility that color is diachronic and unstable, dependent on individual perception, space and context. Cruz-Diez’s works are — aside from their aesthetic uniqueness — provocations completed by the viewers’ movement and engagement in the artist’s chromatic environments, where objects become mere vehicles for delivering a profound viewer experience. In the words of Cruz-Diez himself: “The world of color is the world of emotion.”
The artist has developed a rich terminology and language of color theory that is as important as the work itself. This language addresses not only his artistic interventions, but also defines chromatic phenomena to unlock an understanding of color as unstable, dynamic, and unique, evolving in and with a space. Terms such as "Couleur Additive," "Physichromie," "Induction Chromatique," "Chromointerférence," "Transchromie," "Chromosaturation," and "Couleur à l’espace" are used to describe the results of Cruz-Diez’s exhaustive research into four chromatic conditions: subtractive, additive, inductive and reflected color.
Learn more.
