For a dilettante like you and I, the phrase ‘ultraviolet art‘ or ‘UV art’ might only invoke images of posters or stars stuck on walls and ceilings that glow in the dark. But in the world of visual artists, entire galaxies can be created using phosphorescent paints and black lights. “Electric Ladyland – the First Museum of Fluorescent Art” situated in Amsterdam, Netherlands owned by Nick Padalino is one of its kind in the world as it features fluorescent art in all its awe-inspiring ultraviolet splendor.
Struck by this incandescent medium of art, The Yellow Sparrow has dug up five brilliant artists who are quite simply pioneers of ultraviolet art.
1. Glow In The Dark
Vienna based artist Bogi Fabian, who we are so in love with and have featured before, works – and excels – in several avenues of art, be it painting, sculpture, interior design, pottery, modelling, furniture design, video or bodypainting. What do all of her creations have in common, you ask? Each and every artifact glows in the dark, and flourishes particularly well under UV lighting. Under normal light, her paintings look like landscapes from an alien planet, but once you switch on that black light, you’ll feel like you’re floating somewhere in the cosmos. The same goes for the bedroom murals she paints so passionately, covering the walls with layers of paints and her imagination. By day, the room looks completely normal and simple but by night, it’s like you’ve taken a one-way trip to Pandora (remember Avatar, anyone?).
About her murals she says,
I am trying to create dreamful atmospheres, paint walls and floors and manage to enlighten my art with and without a source of energy. Thus, the spectator can experience the result in the daylight as well as in the dark, and in that way enjoy it in all its facets.
The ceramics she so painstakingly makes are also otherworldly. After charging with light, they too glow in the dark. About her process, she writes,
There are about 13 working steps on average until a piece is completed. Each piece is put in the oven for 4 times at a temperature between 800 and 1150°C for glazing. I form, engrave, grind, paint and polish each piece during this development phase.
IMAGE COURTESY – BOGI FABIAN
2. Trip The Lights
Ever seen paintings that seem to transform right before your eyes? Paintings that aren’t powered by LED lights or projection-mapped? That’s the kind of art that has become the signature of Shayla Maddox who lives in Los Angeles, California. The secret behind her ever changing artworks is that she uses “the strongest phosphorescent pigments available”, making her pieces light reactive. She uses light as a medium when painting, along with acrylic paints, sand, salt, crushed glass, sea shells, garnet, quartz, and candle wax.
Explaining how her paintings work, she says,
The colour changes with the seasons and weather. What looks one way when it’s sunny will change slightly when it’s overcast. The angle of the sun in winter highlights different elements than in summer.
To achieve such awe-inspiring effects, she spreads layers of phosphorescent paint mixed with acrylic paints onto a canvas, leaving it to dry before painting another layer. In her glowing rendition of Middle Earth (rejoice Tolkien fans – she painted The Shire), she hand-painted 159,000 dots using crushed glass and other light-reactive materials to acutely portray its three-dimensionality. Due to the time-consuming nature of all the steps involved, it takes Shayla almost six months to complete one painting!
IMAGE COURTESY – SHAYLA MADDOX
3. Celestial Caves
In his latest series “Stellar Caves”, French artist Julien Salaud transports the viewers to caves inhabited by mythical figures and celestial animals, creating a portal to a simpler time when human beings were more in touch with nature and resided in caves. Each and every one of his installations is made by weaving cotton thread coated with ultraviolet paint into stunning creatures, pinned by innumerable nails precisely placed on gallery walls or ceilings to form a glowing tapestry of intergalactic constellations.
His polygonal depictions of birds, deers, felines and even people will make you feel as if you’re standing within a mythological fantasyland crafted by a master artist. Though his work is displayed in galleries, due to the contrast of the glowing lines of thread and the pitch black darkness of the room, it evokes the feeling of one having ventured into an interstellar grotto.
One of Julien’s largest installations was displayed at the Hezliya Museum of Contemporary Art called “Stellar Caves IV”. Conjuring a sense of magic and awe that is, at once, universal and lasting, Stellar Caves will find admirers especially in people who find themselves lost in Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’.
IMAGE COURTESY – JULIEN SALAUD
4. Beyond The Lights
A visual artist at his core, Beo Beyond is a German artist based in Barcelona, Spain, and works with luminous materials and artificial light sources in several mediums. His artwork ranges from costumes, paintings to photography, with each project being an effort to go beyond the known. His aim is to blur the boundary between art and design, a job he’s done well for over a decade, setting an exemplary standard for other UV artists.
A lot of Beo’s work has been showcased at major exhibitions, accompanied by assignments for corporate events and nightclubs. His latest approach towards art involves him performing live at events, where people can come and see him paint the canvas alive with just his imagination as well as the luminous materials he uses! These unique events take place at various nightclubs in Barcelona along with other cities in Spain. Some of his black light paintings are also available for sale on his Etsy shop ‘BeoBeyond’. His art, quite easily put, is an experience in itself.
IMAGE COURTESY – BEO BETOND
5. Fluorescent Bodyscapes
American artist and photographer John Poppleton’s goal has always been “creating something original and different”. While creating fantasy portraits directly on the human body never really a part of his plan, it is something he has found unpreceded brilliance in. His series “Black Light Bodyscapes” consists of absolutely stunning and whimsical landscapes painted with fluorescent pigments on the backs of female models. They are then photographed under UV light to produce these breath-taking visuals.
Featuring natural phenomena such as lightning storms, burning savannahs, sparkling auroras, oceans during sunset and entire galaxies, John’s artwork aims to combine the exquisiteness of the natural world with the grandeur of the female form.
Talking about his art, John says,
In a darkened studio, while painting with UV body paint under the illumination of the black light, I’m literally painting with light. From the artist’s perspective it becomes a very surreal even spiritual experience.
If you’re intrigued by artists who use humans as their choice of canvas, check out our feature on the art of body painting.
IMAGE COURTESY – JOHN POPPLETON
Ultraviolet colours were only invented as late as 1933, and as a result don’t often find place in major art circles which are most often dedicated to and appreciative towards traditional practices. While still dismissed and looked upon by the art academia, due to its popular association with the drug culture of the 1960s, ultraviolet art keeps acquiring more and more ardent followers.
It may or may or not keep its rebellious image intact, we at TYS sure wish for a bright future of ultraviolet art (pun absolutely intended).
