Optical Red

As part of the Natural Cycles Art Exhibit, the basis for this temporary artwork is the observation and exploitation of the Willamette Valley’s ubiquitous green vegetation and its optical effect on people.

This installation makes use of an optical experience known generally as chromatic adaptation whereby one experiences a color shift on the basis of the eye’s tendency to fatigue when exposed to only one color. This effect can be experienced when a viewer is asked to concentrate on a particular color for a short period of time and then is asked to view another color whose appearance is then altered by the eye’s fatigue to the previous color.