Ishihara Test Series: video / stills
video installation intended to run on continuous loop

Click the thumbnails below to view video in a pop-up window,

We all are born colorblind. It is not until the fourth month of life when the cones in our eyes develop enough that we can differentiate color. While females carry the colorblind gene, 5-8% of men are colorblind whereas only 0.5% of women are affected. Hue is confused by color-deficient people. Hence, if the hues that make up an image are the same value and saturation, there is no visual clue to distinguish them – this principle is the primary concept of the familiar Ishihara Colorblind Tests.

My latest artwork plays on the tension of having fetishistic images of the male gaze filtered through an ocular disability predominantly specific to males. By appropriating images of pornography icon Jenna Jameson and placing her image within the Ishihara Test, her image becomes less about the immediacy to sexual satisfaction and more about the biology of the gaze itself. This connection between desire and the biology behind it is the locus of this project.

The still images are printed large (54 x 80 inches) on commercial vinyl to echo the commodified polish of the original content, as well as refer to a pop/op aesthetic that places the work within a more art historical context. The remediation of original screen-based content from internet sources is brought back to the printed surface, addressing the odd relationship between public and private viewership.

Along with the still images is a newer video piece that deals with much of the same subject matter, but introduces movement into the colorblind template. This work uses the Ishihara test as a veil for the sex act, directly challenging the male gaze and its possession of sexual desire through vision.


- Alicia Ross
  2006