At YUAG, the 20th century shows its colors

Throughout the history of modern art, color has been, and continues to be, a central concern for many artists. Objective Color, an exhibition now on view at the Yale University Art Gallery, displays the work of 36 modern and contemporary artists who have used color as a medium in their art. Explaining her intention for the exhibit, curator Jennifer Gross said, "I wanted to tell a story of color. It's an elusive character crucial to 20th-century art."

COURTESY YUAG 'Turkey Girl' by Jules Olitski is part of the YUAG exhibit 'Objective Color.'

The show, drawn primarily from Yale's collection, includes paintings, sculptures, prints, and a video which span the '20s to 1999, with works by such artists as Jean Arp, Paul Klee, Dick Blair, Felix Gonzales-Torres, and Laura Owens. Accordingly, there are a broad range of art movements addressed, from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism to Conceptual Art.

As an experience, Objective Color is a successful exhibition, for much of the art that comprises it is viscerally and sensually appealing. One such work is Mark Rothko's painting No. 3 (1967), in which fields of red fill rectangular forms which are so gently delineated that they appear to hover immaterially in space. The diluted paint and its layered application underscore the sublime aspect of the work.

A different though equally intriguing strategy of color application is employed in Josef Albers' Homage to the Square: Astonished (1962). In this work Albers, a former professor at Yale who is often considered the father of 20th century color theory, explores the optical and perceptual effects created by the interactions of color. Through nuanced juxtapositions, in this painting the artist makes one hue appear as three.

Other works in this exhibit examine the emotional, subjective, cultural, and historical properties of color. It is not only the specific pieces that make this show enjoyable, but also their whimsical arrangement within the gallery space. In addition to the works hanging on the wall, a mobile hangs from the ceiling, sculptures and installations on the floor guide the viewer's path, and the sound from a video permeates the area of the exhibition.

If seeing and hearing are not enough, we are further engaged in Gonzales-Torres' Untitled (Loverboy) (1990), in which we are asked to take a sheet of pastel blue paper from a stack that lies on the gallery floor (each day the stack of papers is replenished, so that the piece maintains its required height of 7.5 inches). In describing this work, the artist wrote that he meant it as "this beautiful blank page onto which you can project anything you want, any image, whatever." Our participation is required in order to complete the work.

While Objective Color is experientially compelling, it leaves some gaps for the conceptually curious museum visitor. This is most evident in the method by which object information is provided. Instead of the standard wall label accompanying each piece, there are several printed guides placed throughout the installation, each of which provides information on five to seven pieces.

In explaining this unconventional system, Gross said, "I was more interested in helping people to see the object than to learn about it. In the 21st century we are so bombarded with information, and I wanted to set in play the poetics of visual language."

While there will be gallery talks and public programs to supplement the exhibit, the lack of immediate information means that any time the viewer has even a brief question about a work, she must disengage from the art to go through what is a rather convoluted process to locate the necessary facts. It strikes me as a flaw in the exhibit that the viewer's visual experience is compromised by her desire for an intellectual understanding of what she sees.

Also dubious are some of the juxtapositions of objects. On one wall a conceptual work by Richard Tuttle, Two With Any Two (1977), hangs next to a painted still life by Giorgio Morandi from 1956. The two pieces seem unconnected either by strong similarity or specific contrast.

However, such disjunctions seem minor in comparison to the satisfying relationships as that between the brightly colored sculptures on the gallery floor and the steel sculpture by David Smith outside visible through the gallery window. Interior and exterior, color and monochrome, and diverse materials are all in conversation in this stunning visual association.

Objective Color tackles an infinite theme and is successful in illuminating the essential aspects of its vast subject through fascinating and important works of 20th century art.

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