Love Letters in Crayon: Black
Death? Life? Sophistication? Annihilation? No doubt about it.
Every Friday afternoon, “64 to Infinity: Love Letters in Crayon” will illustrate the long, strange story of humankind in one of the 64 colors that make up this world-famous primary palette. After a particularly Bittersweet entry last week, we continue by exploring the indelible impact of The 64’s Black crayon and its powerful predecessors.
From Darth Vader to Huey Newton, Black has represented power and presence since prehistory, when the most enduring pigments were made from the charred bones of the conquered and fallen.
Although Black has a strong connection to death and mourning in Western culture, billions throughout Afro-Eurasia consider the color a symbol of transformative concepts such as maturity, prosperity, and rebirth.
Mystique. Black absorbs light and heat better than any other color, and nearly disappears under the cover of darkness. This sleek and stealthy shade has helped predators from the prowling panther that patrols jungles and savannahs all over The Planet to special forces squads operating overseas as they stalk their unsuspecting prey.
Elegance. Black is the most enduring color of presentation wear, with industry icons such as Christian Dior famously holding the color up as an essential element of elevated style. Coco Chanel employed it both in her definitive design for the “little Black dress” and in her documented dealings as a covert Nazi Party asset during the Second World War.
To this day, Black is regularly featured in the carefully crafted performance attire of countless entertainers, musicians, and athletes to reflect the refined rebellion that is the truest nature of the human animal as well as providing a platform for the full spectrum of accent colors.
Of course, Black is not actually a color in the truest sense of the word, instead existing as the finite eye's rendering of the total absorption or absence of light.
This concept is shown on a stunning scale in the form of a Black hole, a point in space-time with such mind-boggling gravitational strength that not even light itself can escape its irresistible attraction, and now you see why I am obsessed with this color.
Yeah man, Black gets pretty deep…hope you can dig it. In next week’s Love Letter, we examine the concept of justice while admiring the singular nature of our beautiful homeworld, bold Blue crayons in hand! As always, it’s gonna be a colorful time.
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