Week #50, Magic Markers III

Untitled (Red Circles in Blue Rectangle)), 1983, felt tip pen on paper, 8” x 5”.

Herewith our third example in this series of felt tip pen works. And it is another piece where Dusti Bongé uses a limited color palette, this time dominated by red with just a hint of blue and brown. The red in this piece is so vibrant and intense it’s practically pulsating.

This composition once again is rather straight forward; two red circles stacked on top of one another and loosely enclosed within a blue open rectangle. Within the blue outlined rectangle, the immediate backdrop of the circles is a deep, dark brown. However, this field of brown extends beyond its blue envelope along the top and left. In addition, the top circle being larger than the bottom one, it also protrudes out slightly on the left. This creates just enough of an asymmetry to make the composition more dynamic.

Add to that the fact that the whole composition of rectangular and circular forms, in relation to the sheet of paper, is tilted slightly to the right at the top, and you get a sense of things being a bit off kilter. All of this, in turn, is floating against a background of red and brown vertical stripes, which in their straight up and down movement reinforce the skewed balance.

The color red is rich with meaning and symbolism It is associated with a divergent range of emotions, such as love, passion, or anger, and cultural associations such as luck, prosperity, (in many Asian cultures), or rebellion. It can signal power, danger, courage, violence, vitality, strength and even sin. There is no telling whether Dusti relied on any of these associations in creating this bold, bright composition.

CORRECTION on E-news Week #50:

Someone very observant pointed out that I had our artwork upside down (thank you Tonia). My apologies. So here it is right side up, and upside down as I presented it. Do you have a preference?