IT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT BLACK AND WHITE ARE NOT COLOURS IN A STRICT SENSE. WE SHOULD BE SEEING THE FORMER AS THE ABSENCE OF COLOUR, THE LATTER AS THE CONVERGENCE OF ALL COLOURS. GOING FROM ONE TO THE OTHER IS LIKE TRAVELING FROM PURE EMPTINESS TO ABSOLUTE FULLNESS, FROM ZERO TO THE INFINITE. THE PHYSICAL SIDE OF THE STORY MAY NOT BE SO EXCITING IN ITSELF, BUT IT HAS BEEN SO EXTRAORDINARILY EASY TO TURN THE HUMAN PERCEPTION OF THIS NATURAL PHENOMENON INTO ANY KIND OF POWER
METAPHORS AND ALLEGORIES. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, FROM CHAOS TO COSMOS, FROM THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL TO THE BEATIFIC VISION OF THE CREATOR, FROM THE ES TO THE ICH. IN ALL HUMAN CULTURES, IN MOST RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, IN COUNTLESS FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, NIGHT AND DAY ARE NOT JUST THE TEMPORARY FLIGHT OF LIGHT AND ITS INEVITABLE RETURN. THE POINT TO SOMETHING MORE, PERHAPS TO THE DRAMA OF EXISTENCE AND ITS RESOLUTION, PERHAPS TO PROGRESS TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT AND EMANCIPATION, OR PERHAPS EVEN TO COSMIC PRINCIPLES THAT FIVE MEANING TO OUR SUFFERING AND ENCOURAGE US TO MOVE OUT OF EXISTENTIAL DARKNESS.

… WHAT IS LESS EVIDENT IS THAT THE NATURALISTIC METAPHOR OF DEATH ASSOCIATED TO BLACK ALSO HIDES A REFERENCE TO IMAGINATION. THE NEW LIFE EMERGING OUT OF ALCHEMIC NIGREDO IS ALSO THE VIVID IMAGERY SPRINGING OUT OF A TOTAL BLACK, EMPTY SURFACE. WHEN THE EYE OBSERVES IT, THE MIND, OR WHATEVER MAY RUN THROUGH IT, FILLS THE EMPTINESS WITH THE COLOURS OF HIDDEN REALITIES, SO THAT THE PRIMORDIAL ACT OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHINGNESS CAN BE ENACTED AGAIN. THIS IS WHAT WE SEE FOR INSTANCE IN IMMINENT TEMPEST (1999), WHERE THREE PRIMARY COLOURS EMERGE IN THE FORM OF EGGS – A TYPICAL ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL – FROM THE BLACK REMAINDERS OF A CAMP FIRE COMBUSTION. TEXT MARCO PASI, SINE NIGREDINE NULLA FORMA (THERE IS NO BEAUTY WITHOUT BLACKNESS), IN: PIETER LAURENS MOL, NACHTVLUCHT – NIGHT FLIGHT, EXHIBITION CATALOGUE STEDELIJK
MUSEUM BREDA, 2022