Mind games : Annell Livingston

Meltem

Annel Livingston - Fragments G1C 182

Did you ever thought that everything you see is just an illusion or not the reality? Don't you question about your existence or the thing you see may be real? I guess that everybody had that question and some questioned it more than others. Some believe that the world is made of numbers and made of particles. Some believe that all is made of organic, or geometric forms, but than in nano forms. Our eyes and brain work the same, but the experiences which each of us have lived are different and that makes our ideas, thoughts, critical conclusions different. That's what makes us human, but that's not the point right here. I wanted to start with a question to leads you to the spheres of optical illusion. The colours we see are sometimes or maybe all the time (who knows) slightly different than what we except to see. I'll start by giving you a few examples of optical illusions, this will eventually bring me to Annel Livingston.   

When you look at this image, how many colors do you see? For me for instance, I see 3 colors. For some it's 4 colors. Well it may sound surprisingly shocking for some, but there's only two colors. Green and red. Some see red, green and fuchia (close to pink). To see the two colors just look closer at the image and you'll see that the fuchia color becomes red. It gives an eerie look at it, doesn't it? Our eyes are getting tricked or mostly our brain. So what makes you think that a rose is red colored? Maybe it's fuchia or pink. The next one is similar like this one, but slightly different.

  

This right here gave me the shivers. I'll ask again, how many colors do you see? Mostly will say 3 or 2. That will be white, light gray and darker gray. There's only one color, just put your finger on the brighter side of image and you will see that the darker gray becomes the same color as the lighter gray. Crazy isn't it, well for me at least. I always knew these kind of optical illusion, but it still surprises me how my brain or eyes trick me.

My second subject isn't the same as these optical illusions, it isn't optical illusion at all but (maybe it is) it gave me that feeling, it made me think it is a bit. 

Anelle Livington born in Houston Texas. She studied in different art schools. Her work is abstract art, but even though it's abstract, you can clearly see that she thought about composition and colors. In her Fragments Series she uses geometric compositions, breaks the picture in many pieces and changes that in color, temperature, value or intensity. These changes can be seen as the eye moves from top to bottom, bottom to top, or from side to side. Accordingly to Anelle Livington it is a mode of perception, a multidimensional language, which because of its simplicity has immediacy and spontaneity that is distinct. Therefore she replies that it is a foundation for an art of limitless associative possibilities. She simultaneously wants to explore the mysterious spaces between inside and outside, color field and image, figuration and abstraction.

The optical illusion on the other hand is clearly stamped on her Fragments Series, because through that use of simultaneous contrast, she changes the visual perception accordingly. That by using two colors, painted side by side and that interact with one another. This affects the viewer’s sense of the color. Though the shapes are not altered, patterns appear, disappear, and change in their appearance, accordingly to Anelle Livington.

Fragments G&C 180

These works could be seen as pages of a diary or personal journal. Like poetry, one idea dissolves into another and the series of work becomes a sequence of new images.

Fragments G&C 141

Fragments G&C 165

Livingston next work is dedicated to the caption of Anne Truitt: “A concept of any importance seems to carry with it the responsibility of inventing methods for its actualization, and the energy to do so.”. Livington wanted to express the idea behind memory and thought by analyzing it as fragments. Accordingly to Livington “The images are not meant to dictate what the viewer should think, but allows the viewer a place to think. ...[etc.]The collages once created are an inspiration for paintings of limitless possibilities, which allows for the simultaneous exploration, of the mysterious spaces of inside and outside, figuration and abstraction, past and present, two and three-dimensional space. [etc.].”

Fragments Four #108 

Fragments Nine #114

Livington didn't only worked with geometric forms, but exchanged her geometric forms into organic forms which made it more interesting. “It is the idea that dictates the image.” - Annell Livingston

Zen Drawing

Bird Nest Drawing 1-'13

Bird's Nest

    Bird Nest Drawing/Magpie or Raven 



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Meltem