Scientists' Alleged Impossibility Breakthrough: Artist Announces Manufacture of Unprecedented Pigment
Artist Challenges Scientific Breakthrough with "YOLO" Paint
In a bold move, British artist Stuart Semple is stirring up controversy, claiming to have replicated a new color discovered by scientists. The newly found color, dubbed "olo," was first tantalizing human vision via a complex laser experiment conducted by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.
Now, Semple has plastered his website with "YOLO," a vibrant blue-green paint he asserts is a close approximation of the mysterious olo color. In an Instagram post, he bragged, "Scientists discover a new color and I've already liberated it."
There's just one hitch: scientists say replicating olo outside of their experiment is impossible. Austin Roorda, one of the Berkeley scientists, explained to The Guardian, "It's impossible to recreate a color that matches olo—it's an optical trick, and the color can never really exist in the real world." This raises suspicions that Semple might be merely peddling a light teal paint, deceitfully marketing it as the same color produced by the experiment.
Despite this, Semple insists he's worked diligently to create a paint product that emulates the experience generated by the Berkeley experiment. To achieve this goal, he's incorporated high-frequency pigments and fluorescent optical brighteners, which absorb ultraviolet light and re-emit it as visible blue light, enhancing the materials' brilliance.
Semple, known for his color wars with artists and scientists, views his creation as an artistic victory. "I've always thought that color should be available to everyone," he told Gizmodo. He believes he's tapped into the essence of the olo experience and attempted to translate it into a real, tangible form.
This isn't the first time Semple has challenged the scientific realm with his creative interpretations. In 2016, he released a matte black paint as a response to Vantablack, a coating that exclusively absorbed light, which was licensed for artistic use to Anish Kapoor. More recently, he's also gone after super pink pigments. His ongoing quest to create the paint equivalent of Vantablack led him to develop several versions of his black paint. In the spirit of his artistic crusade, YOLO can be seen as another intriguing art stunt.
With a $10,000 price tag for non-artists (approximately £10,000) and a significantly cheaper £29.99 for artists, Semple's marketing strategy also includes an artistic community angle: artists can claim YOLO at a bargain price, while non-artistic buyers are left with a hefty fee.
- Semple's vibrant blue-green paint, named YOLO, is allegedly a close approximation of the scientifically discovered color, olo.
- The University of California, Berkeley scientists, led by Austin Roorda, claim that replicating olo outside of their experiment is impossible.
- Despite skepticism, Semple claims he's worked meticulously to create a paint product that emulates the optical tricks of the olo experiment.
- To achieve this, Semple incorporates high-frequency pigments and fluorescent optical brighteners to enhance the materials' brilliance.
- Known for his color wars with artists and scientists, Semple views YOLO as an artistic victory, asserting he's tapped into the essence of the olo experience.
- In 2016, Semple released a matte black paint in response to Vantablack, a coating that exclusively absorbed light.
- Semple's ongoing quest to create the paint equivalent of Vantablack has led him to develop several versions of his black paint.
- Artificial intelligence and other technologies are increasingly influencing the realm of art, fashion-and-beauty, health-and-wellness, lifestyle, and entertainment, as seen in Semple's creative challenges to the scientific community.
- This Pop-culture phenomenon, where technology and art intertwine, is pushing the boundaries of what art can be, indeed inducing a new paradigm in the gamut of artistic expression and scientific research.
