Colour Warp – Joy Beyond Borders

In April last year, Australia locked its borders to the world. Tape on the floors in supermarkets signalled the safe distance between shoppers. The pandemic pinned us all down into confinement and in many parts of the world people are still living that reality – that and much, much worse.

Colour Warp is a lockdown-inspired painting extravaganza created in response to Covid-19 – a vibrant painting project extending far beyond the borders of traditional canvas. Recognising the significant messages of hope in the rainbows that people chalked onto driveways and taped to windows, Marite Norris has undertaken an exploration of colour and sound as a means of accessing and establishing an uplifting emotional space.

With a nod to the mesmerising Op-Art works of Bridget Riley and Gene Davis Marite has spent meticulous hours blending and manipulating a room full of stripes – not only the hues, but also the order in which they sit and move. And they do appear to move within the space. The results of this are vivid, positive colour combinations that fill the entire space, complete with colour intervals signifying rhythmic, almost musical effects of shades within a composition.

Working in collaboration with Christopher Tonkin, head of electronic music at UWA, some of Marite’s work has an improvisational quality, sensing which colours should go together rather than rationalising. Chris’ electronic music responds to the linear and spectral elements in the room. Built as a series of lines moving through time, it can be followed either in its individual threads, or experienced as an immersive wash of synthesised textures and colours.

There’s a measure of rigidity in the very use of stripes, long bands of colour fitting to a structured length. The stripes of Colour Warp, however, deviate from the norm allowing twists, convergences and disorienting moments of freedom in their depth and saturation.

Whatever your line, Colour warp aims to bring a kaleidoscope of happiness, vibrancy and joy into it!