Hasta La Ideas

Luminous sculpture in David Batchelor’s color-centric Rio de Janiero show

Though not quite as spectacular of a juxtapoistion as Murakami’s current show at Versailles, London-based artist and writer David Batchelor’s current exhibition Chromophilia positions his colorful sculptures in the context of the historic Paco Imperial in Rio de Janeiro this month. Once the residence to Portuguese royalty, Paco Imperial now serves as a cultural center showcasing the art work of contemporary artists.

Chromophilia, which refers to the love of color, is a large-scale exhibit based on Batchelor’s 2006 book Chromophobia, a cultural anthology on the use of color over the past 150 years. The acclaimed art writer posits color as being a readymade art form that accessorizes, adorns and conceals objects.

Work from Cromophilia was previously showcased in prominent exhibits such as MoMA’s Color Chart: Reinventing Color in New York. The exhibit in Rio features bright, luminous colors displayed through ensembles of stacks, string cascades, empty containers and 99-cent store offerings.

Chromophilia is currently up at the Paco Imperial through 30 October 2010. Check out more information on the artist, including an extensive bio here.

Une belle initiative mondiale pour la marque Dulux, avec ce travail de l’agence Euro RSCG London. Un film Let’s Colour dirigé par Adam Berg durant 4 semaines au Brésil, en France, au Royaume Uni et en Inde. Des lieux transformés par les habitants, avec près de 120 couleurs de peintures.

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The pet project of paint company Dulux, Let’s Colour is an international outreach project in which volunteers travel to drab and dreary corners of the world and enliven them with a fresh coat of paint. “Color your world” is the tagline for the program that hopes to transform communities by the brushstroke.

This year the Let’s Colour crew has travelled to London, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Jodhpur to find and help neighborhoods paint themselves anew. They hope to expand to other countries, including Turkey, throughout the year.

In an interview with CH, Fernanda Romano—Global Creative Director of Marketing at Euro RSCG—talked about Let’s Colour. Says Romano, the idea behind it was: “let’s find locations, places around the world, they’re a bit dull, a bit grey. Let’s engage the local community.” She adds, encouraging community involvement was crucial to succeed: “Mandating things to people feels a bit old fashioned. People want to collaborate, people create content to share with the world.”

The project turned into something more than a P.R. campaign for Romano and her team. “We really wanted to get people excited about painting and color. We really wanted to get people excited about the effect color has on you. it was about a spiritual, emotional regeneration.”

When Dulux, a subsidiary of AkzoNobel, approached Romano, they brought a video of employees painting houses in Brazil that had sparked the original concept. The company approached countries where the company has a big presence about participating in the project and found enthusiasm from the local communities.

Romano found the response hopeful: “It was quite touching to see how much the community appreciated what was happening and how much they saw the benefit.”

The Let’s Colour blog documents all the locales, as well as their color choices and inspiration in each neighborhood. The project also has filmmaker Adam Berg filming the entire process. The individual video for the four places is online, and Berg has plans to release a full video of the project in the next month.

Says Fernanda, “by showing it and being it rather than telling people to do it, it’s a truer way to invite people to bring color into their own home.”