Tonight we launch a new Inhouse designed publication by John Reynolds, with writing by Laurence Simmons seeking to unravel some of the mysteries of blueness.
Simmons says: "Blue is as moody as we all are. It can almost mean anything. The colour of vibrant skies; the undisputed colour of heaven, but also of the cold, bruised skin of death. It is the signature of plainness in blue denim jeans, the peasantry in the Mao suit of communism, the law in police uniforms, the earnestness of bluestockings, the sign of the Virgin Mary and even John Key. Of course, the bluest blues have always been found in painting: it was lapis lazuli, the vivid blue rock from Afghanistan, that lit up Renaissance Italian painting becoming the signature shade of the Virgin Mary’s mantle; and Yves Klein’s International Klein blue that bound the pigment to the canvas for a bluer blue, at once more material and more abstract. With ‘Blutopia’ John continues that long tradition of painting in his boisterous exploration of the associations and hues of blue. He exquisitely teases out the contradictions of blue, its mercurial nature. For blue is the colour that both reassures and intimidates us. As Derek Jarman in his last film, made shortly before his death from AIDS, declared 'blue is an open door to the soul, an infinite possibility of becoming tangible'”.
