Infrared Painting - Infraredart

Pictures in the infrared area: detecting visible

The method of deliberate, targeted imaging of double images in the visual and near-infrared (near-infrared, NIR/Z) at 1000 nm is unique in the world. Even without an observer, hidden images exist as a secret image or message until they are detected by an IR camera. It is about one work, but two different experiences of the same painting. The art in infrared painting exists even though it is not visible, even though it is hidden. Scientist and artist, prof. emeritus Vilko Žiljak and his research team developed an innovation called InfrareDesign / Infrare-dArt 

Self-portraits and portraits in the visual and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum

Through an interdisciplinary approach, Dijana Nazor Čorda significantly contributed to infrared painting (IRP) by further exploration of the properties oftwin colours in the visual and near-infrared light.

Text messages / quotes in the visual and near infrared (NIR) spectrum

She researched new painting possibilities based on questioning the pigment/paint/dye and determining its Z value, which resulted in the first doctorate in applied painting InfraredArtaunder the mentorship of art professor Igor Rončević and associate professor Jana Žiljak Gršić. The exhibition of the pictorial part of the doctoral thesis, entitled Paintings in the Infrared Area - Delaying the Visible,was exhibited at the Croatian Society of Fine Artists at the Bačva Gallery and in the Small Hall Gallery Prica in Samobor in 2016. A year earlier, a series of paintings called Invisible guardians A year earlier, a series of paintings called Invisible Guardians was exhibited in the Small Hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall as part of a concert by the Sebastian String Quartet. The smaller paintings, which preceded the final exhibition, were first presented after defending the doctoral thesis at the Prigorje Museum in 2018.

The author showed various possibilities of paiting with this new process, with three elaborate abstract styles, in the visual spectrum and with different motives: angels, text messages/quotes, portraits of significant philosophers, art historians, artists, art critics and self-portraits in the NIR area.

Angel motifs in the visual and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum

With a new cycle, in early 2019, Dijana began to explore the relationship between monochrome, black tones in the visual spectrum and the IR images that conceal labyrinths. With this innovative method, both paintings are equally important and real because they are interdependent. They are intentionally produced on the same canvas, they together hide a secret image, that is, they represent one and the same work. There are several reasons for this method of painting, and the first is, of course, the use of a completely new method InfraredArta. At the beginning of 2019, Nazor Čorda began to investigate the relationship between monochrome, black tones in the visual spectrum and the IR image that unexpectedly hides the labyrinth. She exhibited these pictures together with her entire oeuvre at the exhibition Visible-invisible world, A small retrospective of IR painting at the Bjelovar City Museum in 2022.

Images in the visual and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum

With this innovative method, both paintings are equally important and real because they are interdependent. They are intentionally produced on the same canvas, they together hide a secret image, that is, they represent one and the same work. There are several reasons for this method of painting, and the first is, of course, the use of a completely new method in contemporary picture production. It is a great challenge to be among the first artists in the world to create new possibilites of painting with the same medium.

Images in the visual and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum

The second reason is that the infrared process creates new, achromatic visual sensations. The invisible painting, although monochrome, is as aesthetically valuable as it is in the visual spectrum. This way of painting is exciting because it allows creating on purpose the motifs that are hidden at first glance. This double, intimate painting is contemporary in its way of observing the painting and its conscious use of colour properties of the invisible painting in the visual and NIR/Z spectra.

The first carpet made "Blue Invisible Guardians", wool, 2022, 200 x 140 cm, in the visual and near infrared (NIR) spectrum

A hidden image is a secret until it is revealed. Every viewer is a part of this surprising process of uncovering and observing invisible images with the naked eye. Various modern infrared cameras can be used to detect targeted IR images that hide the unexpected - a secret image. Infrared painting (InfraredArt) opens up additional space for the freedom of the artist to satisfy her need to hide motifs from the intimate and subconscious, and enables the introduction of secret messages in a spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye. 

From the series Labyrinths, "Hidden Labyrinth 2", 2022, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 70 cm, in the visual and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum