Red Matter

Installation Details

Phoenix-based artist Denise Yaghmourian invites viewers to explore their own personal feelings about color. Her installation was fueled by her interest in the philosophy of color and how color impacts us all. In Red Matter, the color red acts specifically as the connecting force between black and white. Red—being the color of energy, the heart, passion, and action naturally carries within it a duality—represented in this piece by black and white.

At its most positive, red is representative of love, purity, and good luck. At its most negative, it can be seen as an expression of anger, aggression, and destruction. Yaghmourian views important both the positive and negative connotations of red are equally suggestive of beauty. We cannot have one without the other. Both light and dark reside in all of us. The white tissue bed symbolically provides a soft resting place and a refuge for the soul. The black chair symbolizes a place of solitude and is suggestive of the darker aspects of the mind.

Intriguing Red Facts | Collected by the Artist

• Albert Einstein painted the door to his house red. He said he couldn’t find it otherwise.
• Red Matter, is a fictional element found in science fiction (specifically, Star Trek).
  It is a substance (in short) that is able to create spontaneous singularities.
• Red also means “beautiful” in Russian.
• Seeing red can make your heart beat faster.
• Red doesn’t make bulls angry. They are color-blind.
• Red is the color with the longest wave length and is always the highest arc of the rainbow.

This artwork was commissioned by City of Chandler Public Art Program.

More about Denise Yaghmourian