Cadmium Red Deep 

Editor: This is "Cadmium Red Deep" by the Harshaw Chemical Company. It appears to be a jar of pigment with a color swatch beside it. What strikes me is how it invites us to consider the origins of color itself. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I'm intrigued by the object's power to evoke cultural memory. Cadmium red carries associations of vibrancy, energy, even danger. It's the color of fire, blood, and passion. It is a manufactured, standardized substance. Does this limit the artist's expression, or does it provide new possibilities? Editor: So, it's about the tension between the natural and the artificial, as much as the color itself? Curator: Precisely. The artist's hand is absent, yet the color evokes primal emotions and cultural narratives. It asks what is art when the medium is manufactured? Editor: I never thought a simple pigment could hold so much! Curator: It is the enduring symbolic power of color itself.