“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul,” wrote Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944).
“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammer, the soul is the strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
Travel through Kandinsky’s abstract visual language with this animation by Seoul-based studio Alfred Imageworks.
The animation, directed by Park Jong-hu, was created in 2011 with Creation Lab Alice for an exhibition. Some background on the artist from The Tate:
“Kandinsky believed painting should aim to be as abstract as music. He worked to create art that was free from all references to the material world… He felt that emotions could be expressed through the way colours and lines were arranged in a painting. He linked musical tones to particular colours, and considered colour to have a powerful spiritual impact.”
Alfred Imageworks also created a stereoscopic 3D version. The sound design is by Crave Sound.
Related exploration: Non-objective art and from the Guggenheim: Artwork by Vasily Kandinsky.
Watch these related art history videos:
• Maarten Koopman animates six famous paintings
• Tableaux Vivants: Caravaggio paintings performed live
• Doro Ottermann’s Magic Artbox Animations
• Traveling Through Brush and Ink: Stop-motion set in four ancient Chinese painting
• Van Gogh’s Starry Night painted on dark water by Garip Ay
• What is Cubism? This Tate Kids animation explains.
Bonus: John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, animated.
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