A Thimbleful of Red at Surovek Gallery

A thimbleful of red is redder than a bucketful. - Henri Matisse

An exhibit at the Nassau County Museum of Art called Seeing Red: Renoir to Warhol explores the use of the color red in the works of more than 70 artists, including those of Hunt Slonem, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and Robert Motherwell, artists whose works are available at Surovek Gallery.

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The color red is an attention-getter. It’s used effectively on stop signs and stop lights. It symbolizes love, power, sacrifice, danger, anger, joy and so much more. 

“If one says ‘Red’ — the name of the color — and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds.” wrote Josef Albers. “And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.”

In paintings and fine art prints, the variations of the color red that can be created are infinite. Artists like Alex Katz, whose use of color appears minimal in each of his works, often uses dozens of colors to create a unique shade of red.

“The ‘pure’ red of which certain abstractionists speak does not exist.” said Robert Motherwell. “Any red is rooted in blood, glass, wine, hunters’ caps and a thousand other concrete phenomena. Otherwise we would have no feeling toward red and its relations.” 

Brazilian artist, Beatriz Milhazes, whose works were exhibited at the Venice Biennale this year, uses red to draw the viewer’s eye around her large, textured prints. 

Spanish artist Joan Miro often used primary colors, with splashes and blocks of red , to emphasize the flow of his works. 

Seeing Red: Renoir to Warhol will be on exhibit through January 5, 2025.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of these and other fine artists whose works are available at Surovek Gallery.