Designer and artist Max Bill’s interest in the “pure expression of harmonious measure and
law” is seen in this square tessellation, in which each of the four colors is given an egalitarian
allotment of space and each of the three triangles is repeated four times. Bill was a leading
figure in Concrete art. As opposed to forms of abstract art that distort, exaggerate, or
simplify from forms in the natural world, the forms of Concrete art originate solely in the
mind of the artist. The pulsating color relationships exhibited among the interlocking
triangles in Four Equal Colors recall the ideas of one of Bill’s early teachers at Bauhaus,
Johannes Itten, who maintained that “form and color are one” and championed geometric
shapes and spectrum colors for their simplicity and precision. The principles of Concrete art
also played an important role in the development of Op Art, seen elsewhere in this
exhibition.
–When We Were Young: Rethinking Abstraction From The University At Albany Art Collections (1967-Present)