I decided to study Josef Albers’ “Color Study for a Variant” for this assignment. I was initially drawn to this piece because while it is almost completely geometrically shaped and clean, there are certain noticeable, and most likely intentional, imperfections to it that make it all the more interesting. Sources about Albers suggest that he created the piece by taking paint straight from the tube and spreading it onto the paper using a palette knife. The most interesting part about the composition, to me, is not the arrangement of the different rectangles next to each other, but the spots of blue on the right side of the paper that make the rectangle imperfect. The spots lead the eye from the center of the image, which appears to be the same color as the large rectangle on the outside, and creates a sense of motion from the inside to the outside. The bright and dark reds surrounding the two small blue rectangles seem to create a sense of unrest, since the two colors don’t appear as though they are harmonious. It also creates a sense of depth, since the small blue rectangles are so much brighter than the red rectangles, they seem to come out of the page. Furthermore, the plum square separating the larger blue rectangle from the red squares balances them all, making the piece seem complete and balanced, but active at the same time. Finally, I think the turquoise bands on the top on bottom, which acts as the foreground of the entire piece, frames all of the other rectangles in the picture.