Shades of Discovery

New Indian Express

22-05-2025

Just when you thought there was nothing more left in the world to be discovered (for have we ever spared any corner of this planet?), along comes the news of another discovery. A new colour named Olo. The colour is a saturated blue-green, much like peacock blue or teal.
So, where and how did this colour pop up suddenly? How did it manage to escape our scrutiny so far? Why didn't we ever see it until now? The answer to this is perhaps the simple reason that it lies beyond our sight. So far, only five humans have ever seen the colour.
Following an experiment in which researchers stimulated individual cells in their retinas by firing laser pulses into their eyes, the laser enabled them to push their perceptions beyond the normal limits. Thus, the hitherto reclusive Olo presented itself in all its splendour.
Olo is an experience that cannot be accurately and truthfully described in words. It cannot be faithfully reproduced by any computer or artist too, as it is not visible to the naked eye. This only means that it will be a long time before it can surface on our phone screens or on the canvas of any artist. The discovery, for now, will aid the research into how the brain creates visual perceptions and also help understand colour blindness and other diseases that affect sight.
This isn't any lone discovery; it must be stated. The history of art has several examples of artists who discovered new hues or created them. Anish Kapoor, the renowned British-Indian artist, sparked a controversy in the world of art when he secured the exclusive rights to use a shade called Vantablack. Crowned as the blackest black, the colour which absorbs 99.8 per cent of all light was invented by a UK firm for military purposes, but Kapoor saw the immense potential for its use in art and quickly signed a contract to establish sole rights to use the material in his paintings and sculptures. He has used it since, in his artworks, to create a spectacular vision of bottomless depths and dark voids. There was obviously a furore over this, with an artist even going forth to create colours that were blacker or pinker, while making it available for anyone but Kapoor to use.
French artist Yves Klein, similarly, invented and then patented a shade of ultramarine in the early 60's, which he named International Klein Blue (IKB). Collaborating with an art paint supplier, he came up with the formula for IKB and used it extensively in his career as the main component. He even made naked models painted in the colour, roll around or walk on blank canvases, to create artworks with the imprints made during their performance.
Every single colour discovered or invented can only make an artist's canvas richer. And the art that follows these discoveries will surely make the world we inhabit beautiful and meaningful.
Colours are the poetry of life indeed!