The Role of the Story Teller – Richard Tuttle

“Color is not easy to translate into words. Perhaps color actively resists language or plausible de nation? And vice versa: words can change color. I got this idea from thinking about how color and sound are similar. We can use the same words for both: depth, tone, brightness, etc… ere sound is not ordered in nature, we order it and make music. Color must be the same.”

Richard Tuttle reflects on color during his stay in Ostend in 2017, where his solo exhibition Light And Color was on view at Mu.Zee. It was here that he set out the initial framework for what became The Role Of The Story Teller, a book that invites us to his world of color.

The book consists of five sections, depicting and illustrating two of his marvelous artist books—Not the Point (2009) and You never see the same color twice (2017)—while connecting them with three exhibitions from 2017, namely his solo-presentation at de Hallen (Haarlem, NL), Books, Multiples, Prints, Writings and New Projects at Galerie Christian Lethert (Cologne, DE) and Light and Color at Mu.Zee (Ostend, BE).

With his documented writings, images of artworks, and selections of text, Tuttle departs from concrete notions of color, instead proposing a boundless vision of “real” color. Tuttle’s themes and provocative questions bring together seemingly disparate episodes, providing new ways to consider and experience our own relationship to color.