Aesthetica Magazine - Dynamic Colour Play

In 1704, Isaac Newton published Opticks, a key collection of studies into the phenomena of colour, reflection and refraction. He had split white light, and his experiment led to the identification of the range colours visible to the human eye. Newton diagrammatised this as a circular shape – what we now call a colour wheel. Today, 320 years later, in a world dominated by digital media and artificial light, we are still drawn to the rainbow. Sebastiaan Knot (b. 1970) is an abstract photographer who wants “to unravel the mysteries of colour dynamics.” His latest series, Colliding Colours, is about how different people might perceive shifting combinations of blue, green, orange and pink. “I create various contrasts in each image by using complementary hues and switching them around. The space and form stay the same, but your perception will change.” Knot’s works are made with a camera; the initial composition is a blank white space, whilst the colours we see are painted with light. sebastiaanknot.nl