A rainbow is something very precious and special, isn't it? When we see a rainbow out in nature, we know that it's fleeting. Perhaps the clouds behind us have parted on a rainy day to let the sun shine through against the grey and create this spectacular arcing form.
How do we recreate a rainbow as an artwork on a piece of paper?
Children very commonly love to draw a rainbow in arcing circles of separate colour. But how do we meld colour and create this incredible shimmering, insubstantial effect of light that we see when we look to the sky on a rainy day?
Olafur and his team have worked very hard to do this in the small watercolour that we see here, titled It's Not the Person That is a Challenge, It's the Room for the Person 2024. The watercolour itself, while small, seems to open out a kind of room and spaciousness. The title points to one of Olafur's many interests, which are not only in the optics of light and the observation of the landscape, but in how we feel and experience the world — in our own psychological response to the world in creating space for us and acknowledging our vulnerability in the world.
So, as we look at this watercolour, what we're seeing are many, many layers of colour which have slowly been built up. There are perhaps 30 or more separate layers of colour. I saw this artwork when there were only maybe four layers. At that time, the paper looked almost entirely blank. But then looking closely, you could see to the left edge or the right edge, a little more colour. Each layer was added as a sheer application, in those early layers, perhaps moving from a very pale blue to green towards the centre, and leaving a gap in the middle of the paper. The last colour to be added was the radiant yellow that shimmers at the centre.
Have you ever painted a watercolour and seen how the paper reacts? The paper tends to buckle like a little landscape itself as it becomes wet. Valleys form where the water pools, and peaks [form] where the pigment runs away. So, imagine between each of these layers of watercolour, the paper which is taped down to a large board is rocked like a baby, rocked in its cradle, so that the peaks and valleys slowly flatten and disappear, and the water dries. This artwork looks simple, but is in fact built up over these many layers of care and attention, to make something which is shimmering and beautiful for us to see.
