Paintings of Terror

“Then let’s look at the seventh painting, ‘Shadow,’ its theme is color.” Zhu Haowen turned to Wei Dong, “Do you have any professional insights as a reference?”

Wei Dong recalled for a moment. “On the surface, the painting seems to express the artist’s devotion to colors, as if he cannot tolerate even the slightest contamination of color. N2vD5c

“But looking deeper, considering the artist’s background and the legend of the fallen flower cavegirls, it actually implies the artist’s fanatical and even extreme worship of black.

“What gave me the deepest impression in that painting were the interweaving and visual impacts of the two extreme colors, black and white, that appeared to us every night. It seemed like, in the artist’s eyes, the world was either black or white, and he sided with the black.”

“So the hint from this painting is darkness, or the evil that darkness represents?” Fang Fei asked.

Ke Xun wore a “this is stupid” expression. “The force behind the painting hints at us that it’s evil? We don’t even need this hint. Of course it’s evil. Isn’t this hint a bit redundant?” Sn8JBZ

Wei Dong waved his hand, thinking aloud, “I don’t think it’s that straightforward. but if you want me to analyze the essence beyond the surface like the bigshot here, I don’t have that ability. I can only think from a color-related perspective.

“If we simply analyze black and white, they are two extremes in color, like positive and negative poles… and speaking of positive and negative poles, naturally, the plus and minus signs come to mind. From the plus and minus signs, I then thought of two color-related definitions: additive color mixing and subtractive color mixing.

“I won’t get into complicated concepts. Simply put, additive color mixing is when the lights of all the colors mix together, resulting in white light; subtractive color mixing is when all the physical color pigments mix together, resulting in black.

“You see, both are produced by mixing all colors, but they result in two extreme colors. The only difference is one is light, and the other is a physical substance, and the artist stands on the side of the physical substance… Ah? I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Anyway, that’s what I can think of. What do you all think hmm?” EWQUZe

Ke Xun: “…uh, quite hmm.”

Wei Dong: “…Move aside, let the bigshot speak.”

The bigshot said, “Wei Dong’s analysis is very useful. The idea of light versus physical substance gives us a new angle. Perhaps ‘light’ represents daylight, that is ‘sky,’ and opposite to it, the physical substance is ‘earth.’ The artist’s admiration for black might suggest the painting is hinting at earth or underground—of course, this is purely speculative for now, it can be listed as an alternative option.

“Additionally, the concept of positive and negative poles also catches my attention. White and black, positive and negative, easily reminds me of the yin-yang fish in the Tai Chi diagram. So, could the black and white in this painting also imply yin and yang? If the artist admires black, could it be hinting at… the realms of yin and yang? STZDLP

“Or, black and white, positive and negative, might suggest a struggle between two opposing forces, which once again confirms our previous hypothesis. There are indeed two forces at play, one positive and one negative, behind the painting incident.”

When Mu Yiran mentioned “the realms of yin and yang,” everyone shivered. Wu You quickly said, “I feel that it should be implying two opposing forces…”

“Yes, yes, I feel the same,” Luo Bu nodded in agreement.