Lori Lako

In 1814, the German Mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner wrote an important book called Nomenclature of Colours. It represented the first significant attempt at a detailed description of the colour tones existing on the Earth, summarised in a chromatic scheme. The book not only gives a description and name to the different colour tones, it also indicates where you can find each one in nature, highlighting the poetry that can come from observation. As this volume preceded the use of photography, it represented a valid tool for the research work of many scientists and artists.

Fascinated by this tangible dimension of colour references, the artist decided to use Werner’s cataloging, digitally translating the eleven shades of blue that are listed in Werner’s book, blending one into the other to create the backdrop for this piece. In this space float two white inflatable armbands, which on their surface show the marks of a failed attempt at flight. They are suspended in the absence of a body that would inhabit them. The work takes the title Schwimmflügel, from the term used in German to refer to inflatable armbands. The literal translation is “swimming wings”. Wings-sea, arms-sky: these form an imaginary cross that hinders the ancestral dream of crossing the blue. Hinders, but does not prevent.