b'tips and tricksHistoric Reyburn House in Whangarei uses a bold colour for each room of the the backdrop gallery including Resene Pohutukawa, Resene Green Pea, Resene Festival and Resene Prussian Blue. BelowThe Colour exhibition at the colour question Sarjeant Gallery used Resene Red Hot, with artworks by Michael Smither and Christine Webster.ResenePohutukawaReseneFestivalThe widely held view is that Reseneart looks better on white walls. Prussian Blue ReseneBut is that always the case? Red HotT hetheorygoesthatartlooksbetteronwhitewallsit apparently allows the art to stand out, and for the eye not to be distracted by the coloured walls behind. Butitisntnecessarilyso!Somerecentexhibitionsaroundthe country have showcased the vitality and impact which results from acting fearlessly with colour. One of these, an exhibition simply titled Colour, staged last year in two venues in Wanganui, used 11 distinctly coloured spaces to explore the feelings produced by art against the different backdrops.TheNorthlandSocietyofArtsReyburnHouseGalleryhasalso takenthecolourprincipleseriously.DavidCunis,thesocietys gallery technician, sees neutral walls as both boring and out-dated, minimisingratherthanmaximisingtheartsimpact.Thesocietys chairman, David Procter, agrees that hanging art against a rich colour often works wonders.The same principles can be used at home. Approach your own artwork styling by taking stock. Examine each spaces character, scale,51'