PANTONE

PANTONE

Massimo Audiello Gallery

December 9, 2003

PANTONE
05/12/2003 - 14/01/2004

Massimo Audiello Gallery
526 West 26th Street, NO. 519
New York, NY 10001
TEL: 212.675.9082 FAX: 212.675.8680
audiello@msn.com

www.massimoaudiello.com

Kristopher Benedict, Jesse Bercowetz and Matt Bua, Nicole Cherubini, Marc Handelman, Ryan Johnson, Ernest Jolicoeur, Emily Lambert, Rory MacArthur, Jin Meyerson, Kanishka Raja, Mickalene Thomas, and Ivan Witenstein.

“Youth culture erupted in the ’60s, and sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll were the (dis)order of the day. From Swinging London to Haight-Ashbury, Mod to Mondrian, and Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin, music and psychedelic drugs turned people onto color. Timothy Leary influenced the fashion scene as much as Mary Quant. Fashion models and photographers were becoming as important as designers, and Twiggy emerged as the face of 1966.

The recession of the 1970s brought a retreat into safe, sober earth colors, and the dreaded “A” word of both fashion and interior designers -avocado- had the American consumer in a full nelson, especially in the kitchen. African-Americans became more aware of their heritage and adopted native African patterns and colors, which were, again, earth tones. Disco was crowned king, and in the fashion world, no one was hotter than Halston, with his luxurious Ultrasuede pantsuits and decadent Studio 54 lifestyle.

The economic upturn of the ’80s heralded a return to vibrant color. Christian Lacroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s extravagant fashion cacophonies validated flamboyant color at the highest taste level, and women flooded the workforce with glamour, sporting big Dynasty-inspired shoulders and hair. With the advent of MTV, kids saw and mimicked what pop stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna were wearing. Following Brooke Shields’s provocative commercial for Calvin Klein jeans, supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista emerged as the seraphim of fashion. Nancy Reagan’s signature red became popular, later giving way to Barbara Bush blue. Toward the end of the decade, Giorgio Armani’s sophisticated neutrals provided Yuppies with a quieter alternative to all-out glitz.

Meanwhile, in the home, designers flipped the color chart for consumers who had OD’d on avocado and spice tones, and America became mad for mauve. The economic downturn at the end of the ’80s became an opening for the dirtied colors of Seattle’s “grunge” movement in the early 1990s. In the middle of the decade, the digital revolution with its promise of outrageous amounts of money was reflected in the eye-popping colors of the iMac. Urban street styles, body piercing and tattooing became mainstream among young culture. Green, a color that became important with the environmental movement of the ’60s, hit its vibrant zenith in the ’90s with lime green and chartreuse.

Minimalism became a strong influence at the end of the ’90s, as evidenced by Jil Sander’s fashions and Calvin Klein’s Zen-influenced home collections. As the dotcoms began to crumble and the Millennium Bug threatened, people were feeling the need to stop and escape. Spas boomed and designer water abounded. These influences led Pantone to pronounce Cerulean Blue, the color of sea and sky, “the Color of the Millennium.” Today, big ticket items have retreated into neutral or deeper colors, but it is the perfect time to bring touches of color into the home with accessories and small appliances, allowing consumers to enjoy color without spending a great deal. Yet neutral does not equal boring – all grays, beiges and taupes are not created equal, and even white has hundreds of subtle variations.”

Leatrice Eiseman

Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute

40 Years of Color

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December 9, 2003

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