INSIDE OUR CHROMATIC WORLD.
Behind the scenes
“The Secret Lives of Colors” contains the fascinating stories behind 75 colors. https://amzn.to/2pOCmNv
Movie colors
In “The Colors of Motion,” each line represents the average color of a single frame.
https://thecolorsofmotion.com
Black and white
VANTABLACK (Vertically Aligned Nano Tube Array)
This coating, made by Surrey NanoSystems, absorbs 99.96 % of visible light. It’s intended for use where stray light needs to be suppressed, like the interior of optical equipment. Below, aluminum foil with an application of Vantablack. So much light is absorbed that three-dimensional surfaces take on a two-dimensional effect. Anish Kapoor has licensed the coating for his exclusive artistic use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vantablack
Artist Stuart Semple takes great exception to Kapoor having sole artistic rights to use Vantablack. He doesn’t accept that a pigment can only be available to one person. To make his point, Semple has produced the “World’s Pinkest Pink,” which anyone can use except Kapoor. Notice that to buy this, you have to state that you’re not Anish Kapoor, and that you will not let Kapoor get hold of this item.
However… Kapoor managed to get some and put a confrontational photo on Instagram. (Editor’s note: I definitely do not condone this behavior by showing the gesture here, and I would not normally show an image like this. However, I work alongside a journalism school, and the full story should be told. Unfortunately, this was a development in the continuing battle over color ownership.)
Now Semple has his own “blackest black” for anyone to use. Black 3.0 is an acrylic paint that absorbs up to 99% of light.
Here it’s applied to a sculpture. https://bit.ly/31RVtnr
Kapoor’s installation, “Descent into Limbo,” is a concrete cube containing an eight-foot-deep (2.5 meter) hole, that’s painted with a light-absorbing black. (It pre-dates Vantablack.) Last year, despite warning signs, a man fell into the hole at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art (which is in Porto, Portugal).
And an even-blacker black has recently come onto the scene. Diemut Strebe’s “The Redemption of Vanity” features a 17-carat yellow diamond (worth $2 million) that has been turned into a black hole by applying a carbon nanotube coating, made by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), that absorbs 99.995% of light. On view at the New York Stock Exchange until November 25 (by appointment).
And BMW displayed their 2020 X6 with a Vantablack finish at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month.
SPECTRALON
The opposite of the ultra-blacks is a fluoropolymer that reflects over 99% of visible light. Used for calibration targets and remote sensing applications. It doesn’t seem to be exclusively licensed to an artist at the moment.
Color charts
Back at the dawn of time (when the Earth was still cooling down), graphics people all had these charts, and they needed to have good supplies of the various colors.
I’ve had a recurring nightmare since 1975: It’s midnight, my deadline is the next day, the art supplies store is closed, and my tube of Cerulean Blue gouache is almost empty.
Pigments
Explore the intricacies of paint pigments here: https://colourlex.com/pigments/
Safety concerns
Some paint pigments (like Cobalt Blue and Cadmium Yellow) can potentially present a health risk. It’s a complicated area to figure out, but definitely something to be aware of. This article covers some of the main issues: https://bit.ly/2HzXw7Y
Werner’s Nomenclature of Colors
This classic color guide (from 1814) has been brought into the digital age by designer, Nicholas Rougeux.
https://www.c82.net/werner/#intro/
Emergency symbols 
