Love Letters in Crayon: Cadet Blue

Low on chromatics, high on dramatics.

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. Last week, we appreciated that earthbound hue that paved the way for our modern world of color: Burnt Sienna. Today, we keep a vigilant eye on Cadet Blue, which has proven a much more dynamic shade than is apparent at first glance.

[alphabetized for your aesthetic appreciation c/o @singwithzizi (IG)]

[rarely pressed into service in a childhood palette, Cadet Blue was usually one of the sharpest crayons in the box.]

Although it may be among the less preferred palette when it comes to The 64, Cadet Blue, more of a “Gray” color in our modern visual world, can carry more compelling connotations than its seemingly nondescript appearance might imply. 

[“compel,” of course, meaning “coerce."]

Cadet Blue can offer a powerful tactile education in the spoils of belligerence, with the shade described as “livid” wherever it makes its painful appearance on human flesh.

Most commonly spotted amongst the palette that greets Earthlings on a cloudy day, in many cases Cadet Blue is the last color seen by any vessel identified as an enemy as the well-heeled dominance of the United States Navy projects its famed “defensive capabilities” around the globe. 

[“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”- President “USS” Dwight D. Eisenhower.]

This militaristic character may also be why this specific Blue-Gray tone is the traditional uniform color for American baseball teams traveling to play in hostile stadiums, invoking the spirit of invasion as they participate in one of America's oldest pastimes.

[donning Cadet Blue means preparation for battle.]

Cadet Blue is able to transcend its reputation as an æsthetically unremarkable shade at times, notably by fueling the creative fires of otherworldly visionaries like Salvador Dali, who featured the utilitarian hue significantly in his mind-bending surrealist work, "The Persistence of Memory."

[a “color without color” is an ideal fit for absurdist works.]

It is also one of the most popular shades in sneaker culture, adorning iconic models such as Marty McFly's Air Mags, and now you see why I am obsessed with this color.

[are we living in the future we hoped for?]

Cadet Blue gets a bit chaotic, but that makes it all the more worthy of our attention. Join us next week as we study a shade that can easily be as bitter as it can be sweet…next week’s Love Letter goes out to the deceptively thought-provoking Carnation Pink!

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[this was a real job.]

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