Pop composition - Nature vs. Technology

In our color theory class, we are assigned "Pop compositions" occassionally. These are small (8x10") paintings that utilize the color theory we have learned in previous weeks, and allow us to stretch our wings in assigning colors to different themes.

This particular composition had 4 criteria:

1. Choose a color that represents technology.


2. Choose a color that represents nature.


3. Prepare a field (background or foreground) that will set up the mood of the piece.


4. Make sure that the piece contains one primary, one secondary and one complementary color.

Since this one was done in class on the spur of the moment, I grabbed at the simplest imagery I could (we have changed that method, now, as some of us more linear thinkers need time to assign colors to themes such as "spirituality" and "the human condition"). I am actually quite pleased at the abstract painting that resulted (I'm not usually an abstract painter):

In this painting, I took the stance of technology being "bad" when compared to nature. Nature is yellow, being overshadowed by technology (blue). The background field is red, a color for danger and warning. My contrasting color is the orange in the sun. Altogether, the resulting image, for me, shows global warming, skyscrapers, pine beetle kill, and smokestacks from big cities.

Interestingly enough, all of the class took the same position, with technology as the bad force. I wonder how the paintings would have turned out, had we taken the opposite stance and viewed technology as something good: medical breakthroughs, life-enhancing technology such as water pumps, etc.