It doesn鈥檛 look like much. But then, that鈥檚 rather the point.
The work Belgian artist Frederik De Wilde is showing, in a dimly lit basement just off London鈥檚 Oxford Street, is a black square (see pic, above). Not just any black, either. Viewing NanoBlck-Sqr #1 for the first time, it鈥檚 hard to decipher what you鈥檙e looking at. You might instead find yourself contemplating phosphenes 鈥� the glowing blobs that appear before your eyes when you stare into utter darkness.
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De Wilde鈥檚 work is made of carbon nanotubes fixed to an aluminium 鈥渃anvas鈥� by means he won鈥檛 disclose. These, the blackest substance ever made, reflect less than 0.01 per cent of the light that hits them; black paint reflects up to 10 per cent.
As well as being very black, it鈥檚 very fragile 鈥� the white frame is powdered with black dust 鈥� and very expensive, so every viewer has a chaperone. Once your eyes adjust, you can make out faint patterns. De Wilde applied the carbon by hand, so it is thicker in some places.
鈥淭he nanotubes are 99.99 per cent air, and only 0.01 per cent carbon,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o basically you are looking at nothing.鈥� They were supplied by researchers at NASA and Rice University in Houston, Texas, with whom De Wilde has collaborated for some years.
Ultramodern though the materials are, De Wilde is reprising an old idea. A hundred years ago, Russian artist Kazimir Malevich exhibited a collection of monochromatic geometric shapes at a groundbreaking exhibition in St Petersburg (then Petrograd). The most notorious was a large black square which he placed exactly where a traditional Russian Orthodox household would have displayed holy icons.
Malevich hoped that the 1915 show would liberate art from any obligation to depict the real world: these were not paintings of anything. It worked. The black square was 鈥渁 void which erased the past and freed artists from history, allowing them to stride into the future鈥�, says Iwona Blazwick, director of London鈥檚 Whitechapel Gallery, whose new show celebrates its legacy.
Apt abstraction
Artists, graphic designers and architects of that revolutionary era were attracted to the idea that their work need not draw from real life. They also found such abstraction apt for their times, in which modern communication technologies were overthrowing orthodoxies of all kinds. Stylised designs for loudspeakers and photographs celebrating the geometries of radio masts took their place beside Malevich鈥檚 stark, suprematist works.
A century of experimentation followed, embedding abstraction firmly into the artistic canon, as the Whitechapel鈥檚 Adventures of the Black Square compellingly illustrates. Perhaps overly so: some feel the black square鈥檚 power has dissipated. De Wilde thinks it鈥檚 about time the idea was rebooted; hence his own, yet more extreme, black square.
鈥淚 wanted to make a connection with Malevich and the political background when Black Square was created,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e are living in another time, but the situation is recurring, with all this polarisation in society. I think the black square is almost like an atomic clock, the reference for time 鈥� black becomes the reference for society, like the black flag was a symbol for revolution.鈥�
De Wilde wants to apply his 鈥渘anoblack鈥� to three-dimensional forms: its apparent abolition of depth may yield startling effects. But he isn鈥檛 the only artist exploring the outer limits of blackness. He bridles when I refer to plans for to use 鈥渧antablack鈥�, which is , to be even blacker. It seems the quest for the ultimate portrait of nothing is a competitive one.
[exhibition_info title=鈥漀anoBlck-Sqr #1鈥� title_link=鈥漢ttp://www.carrollfletcher.com/exhibitions/35/overview/鈥� gallery=鈥滳arroll/Fletcher Gallery鈥� gallery_link=鈥漢ttp://www.carrollfletcher.com/鈥� location=鈥滾ondon鈥� fromdate=鈥�14 November 2014鈥� todate=鈥�21 February 2015 鈥淽
[exhibition_info title=鈥滱dventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915-2015鈥� title_link=鈥漢ttp://www.whitechapelgallery.org/about/press/adventures-black-square-abstract-art-society-1915-2015/鈥� gallery=鈥漌hitechapel Gallery鈥� location=鈥滾ondon鈥� fromdate=鈥�15 January鈥� todate=鈥�6 April 2015鈥砞
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淣one more black鈥�
