And it was all Yellow

With the lines “...and it was all yellow,” Chris Martin from Coldplay sings about the beautiful feeling of deep friendship and devotion. After all, yellow stands for sun, warmth, light, for an endless summer, and feelings of happiness, for the broadly grinning smiley. We associate the color with the glistening, direct sunlight, which is why pure yellow is attributed an incredible radiance and long-distance effect. The spectrum of individual associations and interpretations is as broad as the nuances of the color. This is also shown by the following 10 works in which yellow plays a central role.

The “Bright Yellow House” is part of the series “On the Water’s Edge” by American artist James Casabere. In the staged photographs he focuses on issues relating to climate change and impending environmental catastrophes. His scenes are both deeply ambiguous and politically biting: The images of uninhabited spaces and landscapes appear surreal and come across as deeply disturbing. Casabere's hybrid architectural structures combine public space with private sanctuaries, which he locates on and in the water. In this series of images, the artist continues his ever-evolving research into shapes on the thin line dividing architecture, sculpture, and photography. The photographic tableaus he shoots in his studio testify to a mastery he has perfected over the past 40 years.

Two women stand ankle-deep behind cloth banners and tear up maps, scraps of which drift away. This is how Tanzanian-born British artist Lubaina Himid describes “Ankledeep”, a work from the series “Revenge. A Masque in Five Tableaux.” The series comprises 12 works that often depict pairs of black women in a range of scenarios. The nakedness of the two women in “Ankledeep” is partly covered by a black banner lending them a certain dignity. A golden yellow ribbon frames their heads. Though attentive they look calmly at something hidden from us to their left. Scraps of paper fall from the hand of the right figure and are borne aloft by the wind. These are fragments of a torn-up map, an action interpreted here as an act of revenge: The women shred and scatter the colonial maps of the past before setting off in search of new ways and garments. The historical narrative of migration and colonialism continually finds its way into Himid's paintings, installations, works on paper, and woodcuts. The focus here is on the cultural status of black women.

When you think of monumental worlds of color, one artist who simply cannot be ignored is James Turrell. The pioneer of the Light and Space Art movement creates immersive works that envelop the viewer in a cosmos of color and light. When standing, sitting or lying in the light installation, you are completely surrounded by the yellow atmosphere. A feeling of disorientation sets in, while at the same time you have the sensation of floating. And indeed, the installations are designed to eliminate depth perception and dissolve physical boundaries. James Turrell invites us to block out the outside world and to reflect on ourselves.

This is not a sentence that real art lovers like to hear. But in this case, one can perhaps forgive this clichéd question... Because at first glance, it really does look as if construction workers had forgotten the electric cables in the middle of the exhibition space after their work was done. However, if you take a closer look at “Zanzibar”, you will notice that the loops lie surprisingly evenly on the floor. The two yellow cables seem to come out of the ceiling and lie in loops on the floor, not overlapping. Leni Hoffmann's site-specific work is a “spatial drawing” with a specific underlying concept.

Pulsating, vibrating, oscillating: Ugo Rondinone's eight suns cast a spell over the visitors. They illuminate the last room of the “LIFE TIME” exhibition at the SCHIRN and envelop it in radiant yellow. The circular canvases are sprayed with concentric yellow rings and their arrangement in the room is reminiscent of a solar composition. The bands of yellow, whose melting edges call to mind a heat haze, reflect a number of themes that Rondinone has explored throughout his creative career: day and night, light and darkness, yesterday and today.