Red is a wildcard. In the tattoo world red dye has this wild unpredictability about it. It’s the one color that tattoo artists need to warn their clients about. It may flare up, get really infected, or not take very easily in their skin, OR it might work out just fine. It’s harder to predict how the color red in particular will present itself after it heals and is under your skin. Parts of my tattoos that are red, looked red going in, but either have morphed into a pink, off shade of magenta, or burgundy. Even if I go back for touch ups, red is stubborn and it didn’t make a difference to go over it again. Red is always the wildcard at the tattoo shop. When people say that they had a life experience where they were ’seeing red’, it’s meant to create a sense of wild unpredictable behavior due to an overwhelming rush of emotion that apparently renders us completely helpless in controlling the actions that are about to follow said life experience.
Red is a menace. Red has always been associated with evil. Even before The Red Scare or The Red Menace, even the campiest of war movies latched on – Red Dawn (anti-communism message with Cubans/Russians somehow being defeated personally by Patrick Swayze and C. Thomas Howell). Some of the most sinister artwork, manipulative propaganda and subversive advertising is either dominated by the color red, the primary focus of the piece is red, or in some cases the background’s primary color is red to make the rest of the piece dark, intense and heavy. It’s the one thing that even the undead can survive on if they consume it (in comic books and movies at least).
Red is attraction. When Sarah Jessica Parker flips her red locks around while narrating her Garnier commercials, you know what time it is. Over the last century, women, at least when it comes to fashion, have been in pursuit of the purist red they can create or get a hold of, the Holy Grail of red, to accent their lips and nails. Pay close attention while watching TV, next time a flurry of cosmetic commercials graces your big screen TV. Look for the color red in the spokes models, the logos, the design of the packaging. Fashion-centric females are drawn to it.
Red is philanthropy. In an era of awareness and technology, red represents health, life, caring and empathy. Several charities, non-profits, and institutions created only to help others, have popped up that use this color. Some examples are Project (RED), The Red Ribbon Campaign, the longest standing one of these, The Red Cross.
Red is urgency. Whether it be flashing red lights or the color of emergency vehicles, when we see red, we know something is happening that requires immediate attention. Red has a way of systematically getting the adrenaline going in all of us.
Red is a temperature. Red isn’t even though hottest color in the spectrum of heat, yet we want it to be. Red Hots candy, The Red Hot Chili Peppers…you name it, we’ve used it. Just about every logo I’ve seen promoting heat, sensuality, anger,
Red is in charge. Regardless if it’s in photos, when there is an intense sunset, whether it be a large graffiti mural across an urban sprawl, even the most ridiculously small percentage of red in an object, always stands out and makes itself known. Whenever I’m working on an oil painting, when it’s time to mix the color red in with anything, it just dominates the mix and I never feel like I have control over it. I can put a huge pile of any color on a palette, and then drop only a tiny pinch of red in it, and depending on the color I mixed it with, most of the time, the entire mix ends up overwhelmed by it.
Red is unique. Red is a force. My theory about this color is this…..
….the reason why we’re compelled to lean towards it to make an important point, the reason that we use it as the ultimate augmentation of anything visual when there’s something missing but we can’t put our finger on it, the reason it scares us, the reason it makes us excited and passionate and feel like we’re alive, the reason that it generates a feeling of urgency like no other color can do, the reason why vampires are capable of creating a cultural and social craze that is unstoppable in every generation all the way back to the Nosferatu days…..in my opinion, is because represents the one thing that is required for all living things with a heartbeat to exist. If you were to remove all red blood from the planet, there is nothing. Sure plant life might flourish for a little bit but only until it’s overgrowth strangles itself due to the lack of red-blooded herbivores to balance it out. But, essentially that would be it, done, FIN. Our use of this color in everything is an indication of the magnitude and importance of why we are here, and how much we realize it – consciously……subconsciously.
Tags: 47, color definition, color spectrum, colors, meaning of colors, project red, red, red apples, red hot, red ink, red menace, red tattoo infection, rich harris, tattoos, the color red, the red menace, the red scare
