Lomographic Color Studies: Black

Black is the color in the absence of light. The unknown abyss, darkness, void, the K along with cyan, yellow and magenta. It is perhaps one of the earliest colors known to man. Pre-history artists use its inky color for neolithic cave paintings; before violet, people of power wore onyx robes and garments to emphasize their authority -- from kings, judges, officials in Europe.

But in popular culture black is more known as the color of evil.

Perhaps it's because of the abysmal color of black that makes it so. We, humans, fear the unknown, and so we fear death, secrets, magic even. Because the cosmic nature of the darkness might just be the end. The universe began with nothing and may end in nothing, after all.

It's easy to assume one's evil when we don't understand. we put them in our personal blacklists.

But we all know there's more to it than it meets the eye. In nothingness of space, there is freedom to make it whatever we want it to be. The great fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent once said, “I love black because it affirms, designs, and styles," pertaining it to be a color of timeless style and function.

It's like your favorite Hepburn-esque little black dress, or your versatile ebony suit-and-tie like Agent 007's. Artists own more than 5 garments of black, because it can hide, it can fool, sometimes give an illusion of the perfect silhouette. What makes film noir so great isn't because of the presence of color, but the absence of color itself, and opaqueness of shadows. To be mysterious is another sort of being charming.

My dear, there is never going to be a new black.

2017-08-19 #culture #black #lomographic-color-studies #color-studies