I began my post-graduate studies at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2010. Until my retirement in September 2019 I was able to work on my thesis only part time. Until then I had to take care of a full-time job as Senior Lecturer in Colour Studies and as head of General Studies for Art, Art History and Theory.
Why burden myself with doctoral research now that I’m retired? Simply put, I want to get a work once started finished. But more importantly, I really want to find answers to the questions I have asked myself during this work: What governs or guides contemporary artists’ colour choices and usage in the works? What is the role of metaphorical and associative thinking in artists’ decision processes concerning colours? What is the role of language and verbal thought in the artistic process vis á vis decisions concerning colour? What is the relation of formal colour theory to contemporary art practice? And lastly: what new knowledge about the artistic process can be gained from this investigation of the colour choices and work with colours?
I am writing my thesis in English. This is so-called artistic, or art-based research (see for example https://www.jar-online.net/what-artistic-research), and the thesis will be a monograph. The first working title of my research was Colour, emotion and reality - towards a new definition of colour harmony and expression. My intention was to find out how applicable are the classical and modern concepts of colour harmony in contemporary colour practice. As so often happens with doctoral research, the focus of my study shifted as the work progressed. The working title is now Colour in the artistic process of contemporary artists. I made three changes: I narrowed my field to art, more precisely to contemporary art; I relegated the subject of harmony from its top position in the title to a sub-position as one of many possibilities in colour usage; I changed my attention from the observer or experiencer of colours to the maker, the artist. The last change meant that I investigate how artists themselves use, experience and speak about colours in their own working processes. In order to get a real understanding of the subject, I have interviewed nine artists from Finland and abroad about colour in their working processes, and I may interview myself, as well. These long interviews and their analyses will be a central part of my thesis. The other parts consist of: 1) an overview of the major modern and contemporary theories of colour composition, 2) an overview of the use of colour in contemporary art (based on artists’ own reports), and 3) a comparison of the results of 1 and 2.
What makes this research artistic, then? For one, I’m an artist and not a scientist. I consider colour first and foremost as an experience - and we cannot get to the bottom of experiences by scientific methods, at least not only by scientific methods. Rather than basing my methods on the logical analysis and propositional argumentation of science, I rely in my approach on qualitative methods, such as interviews, hermeneutical reflection, artistic-visual observation as well as analyses of my own experiences.
