What is it with the Bright Colours?

When I moved my studio into Brookvale, my attention was drawn to the bright colours of some walls. Of course, my scientifically oriented brain started questioning why, in this busy environment, I always end up starting at the same walls?

Although the eye is the organ of sight, it is the brain that perceives the image. Did you know that colour  affects brain waves, the autonomic nervous system and hormonal activity and stimulates various emotions? In other words, we react both physiologically and psychologically to colour.

It turns out that our eyes, not just select contrast between objects as a focal point of attention, they also select bright colours, and even more bright colour contrast. This is the first thing our eyes will look for, not just on a painting, but also on a face, a landscape, a medical imaging (this is actually how I get to diagnose pathology on the screen!)

What got most of my interest during my research was the way in which toy companies select the colours they’ll use - think about the millions of dollars spent on market research each year! They know that the brain will perceive an object in a particular way based on the reaction a hue will generate; so they select bright colours to keep children engaged in playing. 

This brings us to the core motto of the Boring No More series. These works aim to inspire people to live a happier and plentiful life with the resources they might have at hand and to prompt them to include laughter into their routines. This is why I decided to incorporate the colours found in toys  into these works.

To the child that lives inside us: may your cheeks be sticky and your hands dirty for a long time.