Four Steps to Self-Help: Color Therapy

Aliza Morell Calli Moore Nicole Ruggiero Evie Falci

Small Editions is pleased to present Four Steps to Self-Help: Color Therapy.

Color is light and energy. Our body and mind are energy. All are interconnected within the framework of our perceptive surroundings. Color enters through our eyes and skin, affecting our emotions, moods, and mental state of being—it is often the overlooked factor in how we can maintain balance and control.

The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung elucidated on the human temperament, breaking it into four color groups. Each group having its own counterpart in nature—cool blues of sky and sea, earth/green, sunshine yellow, and fiery red—we all possess each color within ourselves, but it is up to us to maintain the balance. Pinpointing our personal colors will help reassess our identity, improve development and interpersonal relationships, and re-define our strengths and weaknesses. Colors often come with predetermined symbolic associations, and when applied correctly, they can really stimulate your spirit and surroundings. Purple can signify luxury, yellow whimsy, green nurture and nature, blue calm, black power. A specific pink (Baker-Miller) is known to reduce hostility and has been used in correctional facilities to create a calming environment.

Using color as a unifier, the artwork in this exhibition allows us to pause, escape the routine of daily life, and reflect inward. The title, Four Steps to Self-Help, explains the design of the exhibition. Each artist represents a sequential benchmark in the process. This therapeutic program includes four artists/collectives and is outlined in the four chapters: a multi-sensory effect, the transference of energy, the sanctuary, and submitting to our indulgences.

Aliza Morell’s recent work meditates on the simultaneous phenomenon of color as light and color as material. She creates multi-sensory surfaces through the process of erasure into wet gradients of color, shaping optical forms through color-fields. Part of an ongoing series, each painting on view features a central three-loop form of variant, vaguely floral shapes that span from exuberant to wilted postures. The application and interaction of color joins optically with the artist's touch, creating a Multi-Sensory Effect.

Reflective of the meditative process and the mythic characteristics of her art, Evie Falci’s work illustrates a higher understanding of Transference. She composites intricate patterns with small beads and rhinestones, creating “paintings” that expand into ornate constructions; a single bead transforms and becomes part of a more complex whole. The abstract patterns give the viewer space for meditation. The synergetic nature of her work inspires self-reflection. There is structure to latch onto, but space in the refractions for individual translations.

Nicole Ruggiero along with Jeremy McKeehen, Prashast Thapan, and Michelle Cortese fabricated an intimate glimpse into a domestic space via a virtual reality experience. The game navigates the surface comforts of a nostalgia-filled environment and imbibes in the repose of the familiar. This piece represents a need to construct and explore new sanctuaries outside of our pre-existing realities in order to escape the often unavoidable chaos.

Calli Moore explores Indulgence in her tactile, lush, and overabundant wall sculptures. She navigates the color spectrum from industrial shades of gasoline to pastels, confronting the viewer with a vibrant sensory display that you want to absorb and touch.

We are all stressed. Immerse yourself in the subconscious levels of this spectral healing and holistic approach to self-medication through color therapy.