Part B: A Theory of Kinetic Color (Home)

    5. Chromatic Syntax

 

 
5b. Object change

 

    The object color can be changed on a fixed-color surround. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this type of change is the interaction between the afterimage left by a previous object color and the actual color of the current object. The longer you gaze at the center of the image, the more apparent afterimage interactions become.

Example 5b1: Object change on Green.
 

ANIMATION 5b1


Example 5b2: Object change on Magenta.

    The same change as Example 5b1, but on a magenta surround. Is the effect different?
 

ANIMATION 5b2


Example 5b3: Three color object change
 

ANIMATION 5b3


    Combining object change with surround change raises the perceptual complexity. Variables include the endpoint colors of each color change, the rate of change, and the timing of one change against the other. The examples below use colors already used in Example 5b1 and Example 5b2. The surround change and the object change are both hard changes at about 60o to each other on the color wheel.

 

Example 5b4:

    
 

ANIMATION 5b4


Example 5b5: A faster version of Example 5b4.

 

ANIMATION 5b5


 

 

5c. Hard and Soft Color Changes