Get Your Daily Dose of Color

Nothing is better than when an awareness of color can help you to lead a healthier life- right?

Well, walking through mid-town Manhattan a few weeks ago I stumbled upon an exciting public art project outside of The Port Authority Bus Terminal, whose goal it is to remind passerby-ers to get their ‘daily dose of color’.

And they don’t mean just by looking at beautiful colors throughout the day (though I have to admit I stood staring at the 13ft. by 180ft. mural for quite a satisfying while) they mean to eat these colors each and every day via fresh fruits and vegetables.

Based on the ‘Nature Matching System (or NMS for short)- a system of photographing than matching the colors of nature’s delicacies on a computer to a specific Pantone color chip.

The project created by the artist Tattfoo Tan and sponsored by The Fashion Center and The Times Square Alliance provides busy New Yorkers with a grid system to match the colors on their plates to… and is helping to beautify 42nd street (the project has been so successful, they have decided to extend it through next October).

Here’s what the artist have to say about the project:

‘NMS­­—Nature Matching System was developed by Tattfoo as a reminder to consume your daily recommended doses of color. The shades of color displayed at farmers’ markets are more than skin deep, reflecting the inner potential of every fruit and vegetable; intense colors might even be called nature’s nutrition labels. They get many of their colors from phytonutrients, compounds that play key roles in health and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. The more colors come together at a meal, the better. Sadly, marketers of junk food apply the same technique used by nature to pollinate seed to their nutrition-deprived product. Color is a device that can do good or be deceptive and ensure the pollination of unhealthy eating habits. The colors on the placemat shown below are all actual food colors, taken from photographs of various fruits and vegetables. Match your meal to the placemat—it is truly a rainbow connection.’

‘Trained as a graphic designer, Tattfoo Tan’s art practice seeks to find an immediate, direct, and effective way of exploring issues related to the individual in society through which to collapse the categories of ‘art’ and ‘life’ into one. Through the employment of multiple forms of media and various platforms of presentation, Tattfoo promotes group participation between himself and an ‘audience’. Within this collaborative practice both minds and bodies are engaged in actions that transform the making of art into a ritualized and shared experience.  In keeping with the spirit of this transformative act, Tattfoo prefers to develop projects that are ephemeral and conceptual in nature.’

The site has a really interesting blog…. I love the use of colors in his other project, as well… I remember this one called ‘Concrete Jungle’ getting some press and had not realized it was the same artist’s group that had taken on the task of bringing some color to the never-ending construction that has taken over lower Manhattan since the tragic destruction of Sept. 11.

I don’t think safety orange has never looked so hip!!!

photos and quotes about Tatfoo Tan projects taken from their website