“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” Hans Hofmann
Simplicity is an Art All to Itself
Picasso removed every line possible on the famous painting of his daughter to see how few lines could still retain her likeness.
With prodigious skill, complete mastery of the language of painting, inexhaustible versatility, and monumental virtuosity, ingenuity, and imagination, Picasso showed us the mud in our frog pond and the night over it. Yet there is a sense in all great art that beyond the darkness and the nightmares that it portrays, beyond humanity’s anguished cries that it gives voice to, there is harmony, order, and peace. There is fear in Shakespeare’s Tempest and in Mozart’s Magic Flute, but it is cast out by love; there is horror and ugliness, but a new order of harmony and beauty evolves out of them; there is evil, but it is overcome by good. (Arianna Huffington, The Atlantic)
The bhuman Project is intentionally simple as we exhaustively strip away anything that might get in the way of us recognizing one another as human beings first. In a world of chaos, we suspect a simple message is desperately needed to heal, to unite, to connect. Wearing a simple message “bhuman” on a shirt as you walk down the street might seem incredibly “simple”… but it might just be the very thing needed to evoke harmony and good.
One example of simplicity in message is the letter “b.” It’s purple on purpose! As you are wearing your bhuman flag, the next time someone asks you why the “b” is purple, you’ll have a lot to tell them…
Purple is for… Extra Special
Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries. Purple is also the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow — and it’s a color with a powerful history that has evolved over time. In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color.
Purple is for… Creativity & Awareness
Today, science has revealed much more about purple than our ancestors ever realized: Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy. It’s just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays. (See the chart here.) Perhaps this explains why purple is associated with supernatural energy and the cosmos than with the physical world as we know it.
Taking all aspects of purple’s past and present into consideration, purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the subconscious, creativity, dignity, royalty — and it evokes all of these meanings more so than any other color.
Purple is for …. Courage & Wisdom
In the United States, we offer the Purple Heart as a symbol of bravery. The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by George Washington — then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army — by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters on August 7, 1782.
Purple is for… Blue + Red Together!
You may have heard of “Purple Parties” starting to appear around the U.S. as more and more people want to listen to their neighbors and friends and find a way to move forward as a nation.
At The bhuman Project, we strongly encourage you to vote, and we respectfully challenge one another to remain civil and kind to one another, as we each exercise our rights together.
By now we can see that our attempts to “change one another’s minds” isn’t working. So perhaps another tactic is long overdue. Why not try to acknowledge our similarities and start there.
Keep it simple.
And that is why the “b” is Purple.
