The Promise of Liminal Respites
~ a meditation on liminal moments ~
Vantablack is a revolutionary paint. It’s made of billions of nanotubes which absorb nearly 100% light. In other words, it’s as close to a black hole as we can get.
Anish Kapoor, a British artist holds the copyright to it. It’s for his exclusive use! Since he refused to share it with the public, another British artist resolved to create his own and succeeded. It’s freely available to buy on his website.
His name is Stuart Semple. It’s called Black 3.0.
I love his products…
Before we can buy it we have to agree not to share it with Anish Kapoor!
I used Stuart’s product to paint a circle on a canvas. I stepped back to look at it. A wave of nausea threatened to submerge me. The circle filled me with dread. It had killed all light. I felt I stood on the edge of an abyss which threatened to suck me in. I saw nothingness, it felt like the face of pure evil. Dead flat. Like a foregone conclusion, no possibilities. No redemption. Bereft of footholds. A realm of no return, total annihilation.
An old vase was next. It disappeared! It seemed as though the backdrop had been cut out to the shape of the vase. A great big vacuum. Since the paint absorbs light, there were no reflections from my studio lights. Nothing…
