PhD project by Stefanie De Winter (KU Leuven), supervised by Hilde Van Gelder (KU Leuven, modern and contemporary art history), Johan Wagemans (KU Leuven, experimental psychology), and Geert Van der Snickt (UAntwerp, cultural heritage sciences)
Fluorescent colors are the extension of our visual world and the next step in color theory - Herbert Aach (1923-1985)
Introduction
This research is about art containing daylight fluorescent colors (DayGlo colors), created in New York during the 60s and 70s. This topic has been almost completely neglected in the (art historical) literature, leaving the impact of fluorescent colors on the history of art and art criticism undetermined. The complexities of fluorescence cannot be captured by art historical methods alone and will therefore be supplemented by research in perceptual psychology and material analyses, making it Art Science.
Synopsis
Findings from earlier studies on the works of Herbert Aach and Frank Stella form the starting point, which will be expanded and further elaborated. In a subsequent stage, other New York artists from the same period will be considered: Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Fred Sandback and Keith Sonnier. A new language must be developed, one which allows an adequate description of the experience and effects caused by a fluorescent pallet. This will be achieved through archival research, analysis of art historical literature, phenomenological investigation and material enquiry ((non-)destructive investigation of paint composition and pigment analysis).
A provisory taxonomy of fluorescent phenomena in art will be expanded and revised through experiments in perceptual psychology and subsequently integrated in the new language. Experiments focus on the impact of fluorescent colors on depth perception and the temporal aspects of their experience. These experiences are tested through controlled studies as well as through a large study in a museum environment. With this interdisciplinary approach, a more correct assessment of the considered art works will be possible. On this basis, the place and the role of fluorescence in the oeuvre of the artists will be reconsidered, along with a re-evaluation of the relevant art criticism from the 60s and 70s.
Study 1: Illusory Depth Based on Interactions Between Fluorescent and Conventional Colors: Case-Study on Frank Stella’s Irregular Polygons paintings
The main goal of this experiment was to find out whether or not fluorescent colors cause an illusory depth when observing them in relation with conventional colors, as visible in the Irregular Polygons works of Frank Stella. We selected four of the Irregular Polygons paintings that contained fluorescent colors (Effingham I, Chocorua IV, Union I & Sanbornville III) and translated them into designs that were used as stimuli. Each design had a conventional and one or two more extra variants, making it possible to compare different color situations. The whole series contained fifteen stimuli that where hand printed, using a screen-print technique. We conducted the experiment in the Academy of Berchem on a group of 60 participants (20 artists, 20 art historians and 20 laymen). They all had to rate the depth experience of all colors from 15 different stimuli (designs contained combinations of three to five colored planes). All participants had to manually fill in a questionnaire where they could choose between receding (-3, -2, -1), protruding (3, 2, 1) or surface (0). Pieter Moors (post-doc Laboratory for Experimental Psychology) has contributed significantly to the data analysis of this experiment. Overall, the results show that fluorescent colors were rated as strongly protruding, whereas their conventional variants where rated closer to 0. The results of this experiment were presented as a poster at the VSAC 2017 conference in Berlin, and has won the best poster award. For more in depth information and the results of the study, you can consult the recently published article about this experiment in Art & Perception Volume 6, No. 2. (De Winter et al, 2018).
For a follow-up study, master student Joran Geeraerts will compare the results of this study with the experience of a real painting. In a planned collaborative project with the Van Abbe museum in Eindhoven (see Experiment 3), one of the paintings Effingham I (1965) and a photocopy (without fluorescent colors) will be exposed. For this project the previously used method will be enhanced so that it can be used in the context of a museum study. In a last stage, the gathered new data (including the eye-tracking data of the painting and photocopy) will be compared with the results of the previous study in order to determine the influence (on the experience of color depth through) of the aspects of the original painting like: shapes, texture of the paint and canvas.
Study 2: Investigating the Impact of Fluorescent Colors on the Capturing-Time of Frank Stella’s Moroccan Paintings
With this study, we investigated the impact of fluorescent colors on the capturing-time of Frank Stella’s Moroccan designs, by presenting participants with Stella’s designs (fluorescent and conventional variants) for short presentation times (around 10 ms). We aimed to find out whether fluorescent color combinations are seen faster (i.e. better performance in identifying target among distractors) than their conventional counterparts. Preliminary results showed that color type (fluorescent vs. conventional) and color combination (low contrast: orange-green or blue-red vs. high contrast: yellow-red or blue-yellow) interact in their visual impact. In the first block of trials, we found that participants performed better for the fluorescent red/yellow designs and the opposite for fluorescent orange/green; probably because certain luminance-effects and problems related to reproduction restrictions. We also measured participant’s afterimages after staring for a few seconds at fluorescent and conventional stimuli. The unique setup and the preliminary results of the first part of the experiment (study on short exposure times) were presented in a lecture at VSAC (Trieste). We are currently working on the final analysis of the results, which will be submitted for publication. An art historical paper on Frank Stella’s fluorescent turn, which mainly focusses on the examined paintings and which uses insights of the study, has been online published in The International Journal of the Image (De Winter, 2018).
Study 3 (upcoming): Mapping color preferences through observations of Frank Stella’s Tuxido Park Junction, Effingham I, Harran Variation II (1967) paintings using Eye-Tracking
In an upcoming eye-tracking-study in collaboration with the Van Abbe Museum (Eindhoven), a few experiments will be conducted on the role of fluorescent colors in a ‘more natural’ viewing experience. The museum will expose two original Frank Stella paintings (Effingham I (1966) & Tuxido Park Junction (1960)). In addition, we will provide a full-size photocopy of the Effingham I painting that will be exposed next to the original, which will exclude the fluorescent effect of the painting as it appears in reproductions. Also, a replica of the Protractor painting Hiraqla Variation II, which was studied extensively in real life (color measurement, detection of fluorescent colors and the original technique), will be made. Possibly a conventional colored photocopy of the replica will be exposed next to it.
Master student Silke Renders is working on an additional study in which the used colors of each small section (8 sections) of the Hiraqla painting are isolated and ordered. Ideally, we want to compare the same observers’ viewing pattern, first, when these colors are seen in a controlled situation and second, when observed in a complex work of art that is exposed in a museum.
During the eye-movement study, we mainly want to examine whether fluorescent colors automatically attract the subjects’ gaze in the viewing experience and how much they influence the total viewing experience: How many times did the subject return to the fluorescent colors? Do fluorescent colors automatically attract visual attention? Does the eye move to a fluorescent color first? Are fluorescent colors seen faster than conventional colors? When analysing the results, we will also look into visual saliency and fixations/ saccades: to which color is the eye drawn to the most? How many times did the subject return to the fluorescent colors? Can we detect longer fixations for fluorescent colors than for their conventional variants?References
De Winter, S., Moors, P., Van Gelder, H., & Wagemans, J. (2018). Illusory depth based on interactions between fluorescnt and conventional colours: A case study on Frank Stella's Irregular Polygons Paintings. Art & Perception, 6, 116.150.
De Winter, S., Moors, P., Van Gelder, H., & Wagemans, J. (2017). Illusory colour depth based on the interaction between fluorescent and conventional colours. Poster session presented at the Visual Science of Art Conference, Berlin, Germany.