None more black
October 7, 2015 6:48 PM Subscribe
"a free, unmanipulated, unmanipulatable, useless, unmarketable, irreducible, unphotographable, unreproducible, inexplicable icon."
An apt description of modern art if ever I heard one.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:09 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
An apt description of modern art if ever I heard one.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:09 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's a beautiful ridged acrylic painting by Pierre Soulages. It takes the sort of technique that's used to illustrate drapery, or night sky, or anything else dark in a realist painting; and isolates it, separate from the objects it's associated with. I'd love to see it in person.
Something else that would be even more impressive in person: the none-more-black carbon nanotube squares. The substance is called vantablack, and that link includes a photo of it painted onto crumpled tinfoil where the creases just disappear—the black part looks like a featureless surface, no matter what its texture.
posted by Rangi at 7:17 PM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]
Something else that would be even more impressive in person: the none-more-black carbon nanotube squares. The substance is called vantablack, and that link includes a photo of it painted onto crumpled tinfoil where the creases just disappear—the black part looks like a featureless surface, no matter what its texture.
posted by Rangi at 7:17 PM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]
Choosing the right black for a painting can be an ordeal. Do you go cool? Do you go warm? Then there's the way the different blacks react with other colors. Black's both challenging and fun to work with. The idea of an utterly completely black black paint is the stuff of dreams.
They're mentioned in the article...If you want to see some powerful black works, definitely go get a look at some of Motherwell's Eligies to the Spanish Republic canvases.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:37 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
They're mentioned in the article...If you want to see some powerful black works, definitely go get a look at some of Motherwell's Eligies to the Spanish Republic canvases.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:37 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
this parks and rec clip (YT) should replace the spinal tap reference... sometimes.
posted by raihan_ at 7:41 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by raihan_ at 7:41 PM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Fascinating article. As a painter with a strong interest in materials I was pleased to learn more about some of the modern pigments and the interplay between materials and what people do with them is always interesting. Great post!
posted by leslies at 7:46 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by leslies at 7:46 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Fuligin
posted by grobstein at 8:06 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by grobstein at 8:06 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Please sign in to Nautilus Prime or turn your cookies on to continue viewing this site."
Ehh, no.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:07 PM on October 7, 2015
Ehh, no.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:07 PM on October 7, 2015
What does it take to turn your cookies on? You will have to ask them.
Fascinating article, I know some painters who don't use black at all, but use complementary colors to imply shadow. I have black oil paint, but have not used it, yet. So interesting.
posted by Oyéah at 9:22 PM on October 7, 2015
Fascinating article, I know some painters who don't use black at all, but use complementary colors to imply shadow. I have black oil paint, but have not used it, yet. So interesting.
posted by Oyéah at 9:22 PM on October 7, 2015
Then there's Burger King black, which gives you a greenish... undertone
This could have, and probably should still be it's own FPP. Wow.
posted by emptythought at 10:01 PM on October 7, 2015
This could have, and probably should still be it's own FPP. Wow.
posted by emptythought at 10:01 PM on October 7, 2015
Pure black. RGB(0,0,0). Can someone clarify whether it is a colour or an absence of colour, please?
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:09 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:09 AM on October 8, 2015
Then there's Burger King black, which gives you a greenish... undertoneThis could have, and probably should still be it's own FPP. Wow.
Ahh, it takes me back to the days of Mountain Dew Pitch Black.
I was just going to link to the wiki page, little did I know there is a website called "poop report"
posted by Gordafarin at 1:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
When it comes to artwork that uses black, Art Spiegelman's post 9-11 New Yorker cover was astounding. We have a copy of that magazine that we've kept since then. I keep meaning to get the cover framed.
I'd link an image, but none of them do the cover any justice, because it was printed using a black on black effect that is impossible to do justice to except on paper.
posted by hippybear at 2:40 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'd link an image, but none of them do the cover any justice, because it was printed using a black on black effect that is impossible to do justice to except on paper.
posted by hippybear at 2:40 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
> RGB(0,0,0). Can someone clarify whether it is a colour or an absence of colour, please?
As data? It's a color. Color data. It simply has values of zero for its hues. So you could say that it is the absence of color but to some people that might imply null rather than zero.
As a perceived color? A kind of meaningless question. It is black, but perceptually it's blackness is affected by the type of monitor your using and how it is calibrated. It is affected by the ambient and reflected light in the space you are in while you view it. If it is a flat panel monitor, it is also affected by the density of the liquid crystal display and intensity and color profile of the backlight.
in conclusion: Data is data, blackness is what is available to view at the time you're looking at it (and sometimes it's really just a watery grey but you adapt. Eyes are pretty good at that).
If you had asked about black's relationship to additive vs. subtractive color palettes, that's a different matter.
posted by ardgedee at 5:03 AM on October 8, 2015
As data? It's a color. Color data. It simply has values of zero for its hues. So you could say that it is the absence of color but to some people that might imply null rather than zero.
As a perceived color? A kind of meaningless question. It is black, but perceptually it's blackness is affected by the type of monitor your using and how it is calibrated. It is affected by the ambient and reflected light in the space you are in while you view it. If it is a flat panel monitor, it is also affected by the density of the liquid crystal display and intensity and color profile of the backlight.
in conclusion: Data is data, blackness is what is available to view at the time you're looking at it (and sometimes it's really just a watery grey but you adapt. Eyes are pretty good at that).
If you had asked about black's relationship to additive vs. subtractive color palettes, that's a different matter.
posted by ardgedee at 5:03 AM on October 8, 2015
Pure black. RGB(0,0,0). Can someone clarify whether it is a colour or an absence of colour, please?
The type of black this FPP is focused on is pigment-based black, largely paint but also inks and dyes. The type that derives its color from reflective light and the absorption properties of the pigments. The "pure black" you refer to is, essentially, the absence of any light in the first place. The two are completely different things.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:05 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
The type of black this FPP is focused on is pigment-based black, largely paint but also inks and dyes. The type that derives its color from reflective light and the absorption properties of the pigments. The "pure black" you refer to is, essentially, the absence of any light in the first place. The two are completely different things.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:05 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Pigment chemistry is such cool stuff. I worked for a few years on a database for house paint color formulas for a big paint company and had no idea how complicated both a science and art color formulation is. The chemists who devise the pigment formulas for the colors that marketing specifies are mostly these mad geniuses who will talk your ear off about pigments, the differences between paint and ink and how computers never show colors right.
posted by octothorpe at 6:05 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 6:05 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
oulipian: "Then there's Burger King black, which gives you a greenish... undertone"
I was never more happy for the magic that is Google when I took a shit the other day, immediately googled "green poop symptom" - assuming that my intestines were about to self-destruct - and the first two links were to articles about the Halloween Whopper I had eaten the day before.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:31 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was never more happy for the magic that is Google when I took a shit the other day, immediately googled "green poop symptom" - assuming that my intestines were about to self-destruct - and the first two links were to articles about the Halloween Whopper I had eaten the day before.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:31 AM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
The substance is called vantablack,
is what I would like for Christmas please.
I know it's early but it may take some time to procure.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:03 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
is what I would like for Christmas please.
I know it's early but it may take some time to procure.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:03 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
... blackness is what is available to view at the time you're looking at it (and sometimes it's really just a watery grey but you adapt. ...
And sometimes it's brownish gold.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
And sometimes it's brownish gold.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:35 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Rock Steady...How could you eat that thing and not expect some sort of...irregularity?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:59 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by Thorzdad at 8:59 AM on October 8, 2015
As a lifelong 'goth', I'm very familiar with the varieties of black, especially after laundry fads a little: "What, my pants are a green-black but my shirt is a blue-black?!?! Dammit, now I have to change."
Thank you for posting this; interesting read.
posted by _paegan_ at 9:00 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thank you for posting this; interesting read.
posted by _paegan_ at 9:00 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thorzdad: "Rock Steady...How could you eat that thing and not expect some sort of...irregularity?"
I swear to you, it didn't occur to me at all while I was eating it (for what it's worth, it doesn't taste any better than a regular Whopper and the black bun is a bit... unheimlich and slightly disturbing to eat). It was probably close to 48 hours after I ate it that I witnessed the... aftermath, so it had completely slipped my mind until that frantic bit of googling.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:15 AM on October 8, 2015
I swear to you, it didn't occur to me at all while I was eating it (for what it's worth, it doesn't taste any better than a regular Whopper and the black bun is a bit... unheimlich and slightly disturbing to eat). It was probably close to 48 hours after I ate it that I witnessed the... aftermath, so it had completely slipped my mind until that frantic bit of googling.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:15 AM on October 8, 2015
I haven't yet had time to read the whole article, but the beginnings reminded my so much of the first Anish Kapoor I saw: Descent into Limbo Really a beautiful piece.
posted by mumimor at 9:58 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 9:58 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
One of my very favorite paintings is of an angel of death (I think) taking a fallen soldier from a battlefield, but the angel is entirely painted in black and the paint itself creates the texture of the being. The painting is pretty huge and just stunning. I remember asking if there were any prints of the painting and found out that the black angel wouldn't show up in the print because all the art is in the sculpting of the paint.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the name of the painting and I have long forgotten it. I just know I saw it as part of a traveling exhibition at the Blanton in Austin between 2006-2008?
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2015
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the name of the painting and I have long forgotten it. I just know I saw it as part of a traveling exhibition at the Blanton in Austin between 2006-2008?
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2015
Fuck you Golden! I want a tube of vantablack now!
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:24 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:24 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mummy Brown and Other Historical Colors
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:29 PM on October 28, 2015
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:29 PM on October 28, 2015
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Then there's Burger King black, which gives you a greenish... undertone
posted by oulipian at 7:04 PM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]