In 2023 I had a sculptural work accepted into an exhibition in San Diego entitled Blackout. I have written about this piece before, but while considering the exhibition I had some additional thoughts regarding the fundamental nature of black — and its potential meaning. Perhaps shocking to some, black is not actually a thing … it is the absence of a thing — namely light. The opposite of black is not white … it is light. Therefore, black is ultimately defined not by what it is, but rather, by what it is not. Black can’t exist without light — literally. In order for black to exist and be understood, it must use the scaffolding that light creates. When we paint a surface black, the pigment absorbs much of the light that hits it. Depending on the makeup of the pigment it will absorb greater or lesser amounts of the light. Vantablack, for example, is a proprietary coating that absorbs over 99% of the light that hits its surface. This is the darkest black humans have been able to produce to date. The work shown here uses a pigment that claims to absorbs close to 97% of the light.
Interestingly, light contains the entire visual spectrum or the wavelengths that create the spectacular, vibrant world we live in. A prism can help separate and isolate these light waves and make them visible. A rainbow is nature’s prism; it can separate various wavelengths into ribbons of color that cross the sky. In contrast to the process of separating light waves, when an object appears red, the surface of that object is absorbing the other wavelengths — allowing the red spectrum to be reflected into our eyes. A bright white pigment allows almost all the various spectrums of light to be reflected. Light is energy and can heat objects up. The darker the object, the greater amount of light energy it absorbs. Light is needed for plants to grow. Even our bodies are said to need light to survive. We can generate electricity with light. Black does no such thing. It is defined by what it is not, by the absence of light, and therefore offers little in return. Perhaps one useful aspect of black is that it can provide us an increased awareness and appreciation of light.