Curated by Jane Alison

Often thought of in terms of chromophobia, contemporary art turns out to have a severe case of latent chromomania. The Barbican’s Jane Alison makes the diagnosis in an exhibition of about sixty paintings, videos, photographs, and sculptures from the past half century by noted chromomaniacs like William Eggleston and Sophie Calle, as well as a few surprises, such as Bas Jan Ader. The topic has long been a red herring in the antiaesthetic-versus-beauty grudge match, so it will be interesting to see if this rainbow coalition tells us anything about color’s social meaning or whether color is content simply to dazzle visually. The catalogue includes an essay by Nuit Banai and reprints texts by Spencer Finch, Hélio Oiticica, and Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Yves Klein.

— Katy Siegel