Texts about yellowism

Rothko said his paintings begin an unknown adventure into an unknown space. I think that especially “Black on Maroon” with the title “A potential piece of yellowism” begins an unknown adventure into unknown space. The new context called Yellowism is still an unknown space for many people. Simon Schama (in “Simon Schama’s Power of Art – Rothko”) says about Rothko’s painting: “I felt I was being pulled through those black lines to some mysterious place in the universe.” Now, not the black lines painted by Rothko, but rather the black inscription on the Rothko’s painting: “A potential piece of yellowism” pulls the whole world, the whole public, and all people around the world, to the new “mysterious” place called “yellowism”. However, this new territory, this new intellectual field, is not so mysterious – it’s clearly defined. The definition of yellowism is not a secret.

You can look through “A potential piece of yellowism”to see the new context. If you resign from being an artist and you abandon the context of art – you don’t need to return to the context of everyday reality, because you have the possibility to discover the context of yellowism. You don’t have to step back, you have the opportunity to radically change your perception and see all and everything as expressions of yellow color only – including the beautiful “Black on Maroon” by Mark Rothko. 

text by Marcin Lodyga

►► The Last Exhibition of Yellowism
Every yellowism exhibition is identical in content. Pieces presented on the first, the second or the legendary third exhibition of yellowism expressed exactly the same as pieces which could be presented at the fourth exhibition.  Also, pieces on the fifth or sixth or thousandth exhibition of yellowism will be expressing the same. In the context of yellowism the content will never change.Yellowism expansion wants to transform all the existing minds into one flat surface and radically change the human perception. Every yellowism exhibition is the part of this expansion, expansion, no evolution. There is no progress, yellowists don’t develop any idea. Everything was finally defined at the very beginning ( of yellowism) therefore you should not expect any intellectual news on  the next exhibitions. Every exhibition of yellowism which took place in the past and every future exhibition of yellowism  is the last, the final.  The past of yellowism looks like the future of yellowism. One can say that there is no past and there is no future in yellowism and the time is stopped.

text by Marcin Lodyga

►► Feelings
In the context of yellowism every feeling is a definition of yellow, every emotion expresses yellow color only. Sadness is about yellow and happiness is about yellow too. Pain is considered as a pure expression of yellow, orgasm as well. Inside the context of yellowism all emotions and feelings captured on the four pictures (above) and emotions and feelings which these images can arouse in potential viewers, express yellow color and nothing more.

text by Marcin Lodyga

►► Listen to Young Dictators
Consider yellowism as a totalitarian system. Two young “dictators” – authors of the definition and manifesto of yellowism decided that there is only one interpretation in this specific context. Everything is about yellow – this is the order, the final solution. It is imposed on you, you are not free to interpret, and you have to accept the only possible way of seeing things. This way and no other way. If you don’t want to accept the fact that in yellowistic chambers you can see only pure expressions of yellow color – don’t worry, the young “dictators”: Lodyga and Umanets will not send you to a gas chamber (btw if a gas chamber was placed inside a yellowistic chamber then it would be about yellow). If you try to reject the existence of the new phenomenon then better just go back to your ordinary reality or go to an art gallery where you can enjoy the diversity of meanings, symbols and references.

text by Marcin Lodyga

►► One and Many
“Abstract painting is abstract.” – Jackson Pollock  “The flight from interpretation seems particularly a feature of modern painting. Abstract painting is the at tempt to have, in the ordinary sense, no content; since there is no content, there can be no interpretation. Pop Art works by the opposite means to the same result; using a content so blatant, so “what it is,” it, too, ends by being uninterpretable.” – Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation” Yellowism is not against interpretation, but Yellowism gives only one interpretation. Not many, just one, forever. Every piece of Yellowism  is about yellow and nothing more. Whatever you put into a yellowistic chamber, it is a definition of yellow. The lack of many different interpretations is not the lack of interpretation. Every piece of yellowism has the content – every piece of yellowism has exactly the same content. All pieces of yellowism are interpretable because all are about yellow and express yellow, however the content is not obvious (blatant) for humans. Humans have a problem to see beings and objects (inside yellowism) as expressions of yellow color only. If for humans the fact that inside yellowism everything is about yellow was obvious and blatant, then it would mean that human perception was radically changed. An abstract painting placed in a yellowistic chamber has the content – the same content as a chair or anything else placed in a chamber . Every abstract painting (inside yellowism) is a definition of yellow, therefore is not so abstract anymore because you can see (interpret) it as a pure expression of yellow color. In art, an abstract painting is the at tempt to have, in the ordinary sense, no content. 

text by Marcin Lodyga

►► Oh My God!
A monkey doesn’t distinguish between contexts. A monkey jumps on a chair in an apartment – in the context called reality, ordinary reality where objects are useful. A monkey jumps  on a chair placed in an art gallery ( in the context of art) where a chair has meanings, a sense, a chair can be, for example, about love, war, death, existence, art itself etc and can expresses a lot of different things. But monkey doesn’t see any sense when looking on a chair; it jumps on a chair like in an apartment. Also, a monkey jumps on a chair in a yellowistic chamber, it doesn’t see that a chair in the context of yellowism is about yellow and expresses yellow color only. That’s obvious that a monkey doesn’t see differences between ordinary reality, art and yellowism; it just want to jump (or sit in a funny monkey way) on a chair, doesn’t matter where. But you, do you see the difference? It’s time to clearly and radically distinguish between contexts. Even if sometimes the context of art matches the context of reality or borders between them are very blurred, you still need to know what art is and what everyday reality is, also you have to know what yellowism is. Hypothetically, if one day art equals reality and therefore there is no art and no reality anymore, yellowism will be still a different context, a separate territory. According to polish theoretician and visionary Jerzy Ludwinski, the evolution of art can reach the stage called “the stage of totality” and this is how he described it: “What matters are the tensions created by the collective effort of many individuals which contributes to the making of one system, pulsating with its own life like some gigantic work of nature. Art = reality.” Even if there was such a fusion (art + reality), yellowism would be still “outside”. If art disappeared and reality disappeared – if both were transformed into “aRteality” or something like that, I would call yellowism, it this particular case, not the third but the second context. If two contexts (art and reality) become one, then the third context we should perceive as the second context. Imagine that yellowism is the only context which exists and you don’t need to distinguish anymore. No art, no ordinary reality (no “aRteality” as well), just yellowism, the whole universe is like one huge yellowistic chamber, all and everything is flattened to yellow. What would you say in a such ontological situation? Will you say: “Oh my god!”?

►► The Nature of Yellowistic Drafts
A yellowistic draft is not a piece of Yellowism. A yellowistc draft becomes a piece of Yellowism when you insert it into a yellowistic chamber and then, like every piece of Yellowism, is about yellow color, expresses yellow color and nothing more. There are two types of drafts: drafts that were made during the period of transition between art and Yellowism (June – November 2010, Cairo), and drafts which were made after the writing of the Manifesto of Yellowism. The first ones were made parallel with the manifesto and were the notes (in various forms) relating to the different ideas that occurred at the time when we were defining Yellowism. These drafts were comments on the manifesto. After the Manifesto of Yellowism almost anything can become a yellowistic draft if yellowist chooses it and sign it. Any being, any object from the surrounding reality can get the status of a yellowistic draft. Yellowists can choose one draft from the set of yellowistic drafts and transform it into a piece of Yellowism. Yellowist makes yellowistc drafts and thus show what and who can be flattened to yellow. A yellowistic draft is a potential piece of Yellowism. Yellowists indicates all that what can be about yellow color and at the same time they also show how full of meanings, symbols and references is a draft before the “flattening” in a chamber. Draft may induce multiple interpretations and can be decoded in similar way as work of art can be, but of course a yellowistic draft is not a work of art. Some people will say about drafts: “Oh, it might be an interesting and beautiful work of art”  or “I would like to show it in a gallery where art critics would admire it”. Those who want to perceive yellowistic drafts in this way, will always be disappointed because a yellowistic draft is just a yellowistic draft and at any time can be positioned in a yellowistic chamber and thus can be deprived of its intellectual richness. Titles of yellowistic drafts can only intensify a pain of those who wish to keep contents, because a title which magnifies a field of interpretation, loses its significance in a yellowistic chamber; a title is no longer a source of new meanings. No matter how you title a piece of Yellowism, it is about yellow anyway. Some yellowistic drafts will never become pieces of Yellowism. There are also pieces of Yellowism, which previously were not yellowistic drafts.

text by Marcin Lodyga