Geometric Folded Shapes

The way in which colours behave is miraculous. Sometimes only minor interferences in a material will bring out an irresistible shimmer in how a colour manifests. I was looking at a number of Geometric Folded Shapes by Maria van Elk from 1986. These were sheets of white flexible paper, about 45cm square. This pas then folded several times by Maria. This could be done on a table, by hand, effectively directly under her eyes. The folding was done carefully. The paper was delicate. A fragile form arose, a symmetrical pattern of folding lines, refined as the pleats of a fan, as lite and feathered as well. Yet also this: in the angular spaces among sharp folding lines, we see the slight bulging of the paper. The surface becomes uneven. The little fields that originated were not anticipated: first, a sheet of paper was folded "close" and then again it was folded open. This way, amidst folding lines, a hexagon comes to live, compact and enigmatic in shape, the artist has given it an extraordinary red colour. The radiance of this bright red is a result of the vivid style: the sharpness of the folded edges simultaneously make the red more intense. It is made with oil pastels with a brittle surface. This gritty red seems "to fit" exactly within the firm border that contains it.
In these beautifully folded shapes there is an extraordinary relationship between form and colour. For instance: a wide triangle is a shape that is more spacious than a narrow hexagon. Red is compact and twinkles like a diamond. Green is a more spacious colour. I am thinking about grass. An upright, standing, diamond shape is solemn. Within it fits the cobalt blue that is a darker and more languid colour. Looking at colours like this, dreamy and in earnest at the same time, it liberates and releases our perception. That is because, like with sound, the mysteries of colour are unfathomable.