Biomimetics, color, and the arts

Franziska Schenk

doi:10.1117/12.2084302

26 March 2015 Biomimetics, color, and the arts

Franziska Schenk

Proceedings Volume 9429, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015; 94290Z (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2084302
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Color as dramatic, dynamic and dazzling as the iridescent hues on the wings of certain butterflies has never been encountered in the art world. Unlike and unmatched by the chemical pigments of the artists’ palette, this changeable color is created by transparent, colorless nanostructures that, as with prisms, diffract and reflect light to render spectral color visible. Until now, iridescent colors, by their very nature, have defied artists’ best efforts to fully capture these rainbow hues. Now, for the first time, the artist and researcher Franziska Schenk employs latest nature-inspired color-shift technology to actually simulate the iridescence of butterflies and beetles on canvas. Crucially, studying the ingenious ways in which a range of such displays are created by insects has provided the artist with vital clues on how to adapt and adopt these challenging optical nano-materials for painting. And indeed, after years of meticulous and painstaking research both in the lab and studio, the desired effect is achieved. The resulting paintings, like an iridescent insect, do in fact fluctuate in perceived color - depending on the light and viewing angle. In tracing the artist’s respective biomimetic approach, the paper not only provides an insight into the new color technology’s evolution and innovative artistic possibilities, but also suggests what artists can learn from nature.

Citation Download Citation

Franziska Schenk "Biomimetics, color, and the arts", Proc. SPIE 9429, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015, 94290Z (26 March 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2084302

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