"Depends On Your Point Of View"

LOS ANGELES EXHIBITION DEBUT OF WORLD'S BLACKEST, MOST LIGHT-ABSORBING ACRYLIC PAINT -- BLACK 3.0

Stuart Semple's third iteration of his ultra-black, light absorbing acrylic paint went on sale in mid-August and promptly sold out, but not before BMA's Brandon Morino got his grubby paws on a bottle ($25 for 150ml, with shipping) and used it to coat his mixed media offering for the Brentwood Art Center's annual Fall Show. The piece, entitled "Depends On Your Point Of View", is actually a combination of Krylon Fusion primer, Stuart Semple Black 2.0 base coat, and BLK 3.0 top coat (as they refer to it on culturehustle.com).  It depicts a child whose color, creativity, and imagination has been lost to a society that values sameness and conformity over being unique. It was the FIRST EXHIBIT OF BLACK 3.0 IN LOS ANGELES, as confirmed by Culture Hustle.

The challenge with this piece (yes, artists love to use the word "challenge"... perhaps a bit too much) was the multiple materials utilized for the work -- plastic mannequin, denim jeans, cotton t-shirt, twill cap, particle board, and canvas backpack.  In addition, a glue/water slurry was used to stiffen the fabric, yet still maintain the fabric texture as much as possible. Using only one #12 fine brush, the process required a bit of patience, but the results were well worth it.

Black 3.0 was formulated as a direct challenge to VantaBlack, a nanotube application of which artist Anish Kapoor owns the exclusive artistic use rights. Black 3.0 (currently sold out) is commercially available to everyone (except, according to the site, Anish Kapoor). It absorbs 95-99% of all light (depending on dilution), creating a "cutout within reality" appearance. When photographed, the effect is even more striking, with nearly all features of the piece -- fabric wrinkles, facial features, edges and cuffs -- all melding into one another.