Thinking in Color: Selections from the Vault

"I can think in watercolor."

Offering a vibrant showcase of Dusti Bongé's richly colored later oeuvre, Thinking in Color is inspired by both Dusti Bongé's own observation above, as well as by her professed love of all colors, including "dull" colors and "gray" colors. This selection of never-before-seen works on paper from the vault, celebrates the many rich hues Dusti explored in her work. Focused on pieces from her later career, the exhibit features a dramatic spectrum of shades ranging from vivid pinks to moody blues.

Visually and aesthetically, Bongé might juxtapose various colors in refreshingly unexpected ways or create almost monochromatic works exploring a range of tones and tints. Meanwhile, mentally and emotionally, she made distinct associations with colors that were unique to her, such as  considering yellow the color of suffering.

Bongé was never particularly interested in discussing her artwork, or art in general. She did not want to get "literary" about her work, believing such endeavors were mostly pointless. She much preferred making art over talking about it. And yet, over the years, among the few pointed comments she did make about her own work, several were centered around the theme of color.

A few of her simple yet revelatory observations about color include:

"When working with color I try to make my colors not only compatible or complimentary but to 'sing' together."

"I don’t know how you could have a favorite color. It’s like having 12 children and somebody saying which is your favorite child. You wouldn’t know because none of them are the same."

“I love color, I love color everywhere. I love dull colors, I love gray colors—they don’t have to be bright.”

“When painting in the studio I tried to break all of the clichés that I had heard by making the bright colors recede and the darker ones come forward”

"I can think in watercolor.”

Comprising approximately 40 works on paper, mostly 11 in x 14 in, or smaller, Thinking in Color offers a generous sampling of Bongé’s incredible artistic output right up to her final years. Color was profoundly essential to her creative drive and her artistic output throughout her career, as evidenced in this selection.