INFRARED PAINTING – INFRAREDART
Paintings in the Infrared Spectrum: Revealing the Visible
The method of deliberate, targeted imaging of double paintings, one in the visible and the other in the near-infrared (NIR) range at 1000 nm is unique in the world. Even without an observer, hidden representations exist as a secret image or message until they are revealed using an IR camera. It is one work of art offering two different experiences of the same painting. Art in infrared painting exists even though it is not visible but concealed. Scientist and artist, Professor Emeritus Vilko Žiljak and his research team, developed in 2007 an innovation called InfrareDesign/InfraredArt.
Self-portraits and portraits in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum
By combining art and science through an interdisciplinary approach, Dijana Nazor Čorda significantly contributed to infrared painting (IRP) by further studying the properties of colour twins in visible and NIR region.
Text messages/quotes in the visible and near infrared (NIR) spectrum
Dijana researched new painting possibilities by analysing the pigment/paint/dye properties and determining their ‘Z’ value, which resulted in the first PhD in Art applying the InfraredArt method.theory under the mentorship of art professor Igor Rončević and associate professor Jana Žiljak Gršić, PhD. The exhibition of paintings that were part of the doctoral dissertation, entitled Paintings in the Infrared Spectrum – Postponing the Visible,was staged in 2016 at the Bačva Gallery of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists, and in the Small Hall of the Prica Gallery in Samobor. A year earlier, a series of paintings called Invisible Guardians series was exhibited at the Small Hall of the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall as part of a concert performed by the Sebastian String Quartet. The smaller paintings, which preceded the final exhibition, were first presented at the Museum of Prigorje in 2018 after having defended the dissertation.
The author showed various possibilities of painting with this new method creating art in three elaborate abstract styles in the visible spectrum, while at the same time in the NIR range these paintings show different figurative motifs (angels, text messages/quotes, portraits of significant philosophers, art historians, artists, art critics and self-portraits).
Angel motifs in the visible and NIR spectrum
In 2019, the Varaždin City Museum organised a TOURING exhibition in cooperation with four other museums – the Koprivnica City Museum (2019/2020), the City of Prelog Croata insulanus Museum (2020), Trakošćan Castle (2021), and the Mimara Museum. In cooperation with reGalerija in Zabok, in March 2022 Dijana set up an exhibition of paintings and presented her first INNOVATION – the first IR rug in the world created using the InfraredArt method.In early 2019, Dijana began to explore the relationship between the monochrome, black tones in the visible spectrum and the IR image that unexpectedly hides a labyrinth or maze. She exhibited these pictures together with her entire oeuvre Visible-invisible world, A Small Retrospective of IRP at the Bjelovar City Museum in 2022.
Paintings in the visible and NIR spectrum
With this innovative method, both paintings are equally important and authentic because they are interdependent. They are deliberately painted on the same canvas and together they hide a secret image, that is, they represent one and the same work of art. There are several reasons to employ this method of painting. The first is, of course, pioneering the use of a completely new method in contemporary painting. It is a great challenge to be among the first artists in the world to create new possibilities of painting on the same medium.
Paintings in the visible and NIR spectrum
The second reason is that the IR procedure creates new, achromatic visual sensations. The invisible painting, although monochrome, is as aesthetically valuable as it is in the visible spectrum. This way of painting is exciting because it allows deliberate creation of motifs that are hidden at first glance. This double, intimate painting is contemporary in the way art is observed, and by intentionally using colour properties of the invisible painting in the visible and NIR/Z spectra.
The first IR rug "Blue Invisible Guardians", in wool, 2022, 200 x 140 cm, in the visible and NIR spectrum
A hidden image is secret until it is revealed. Every observer is a part of this astonishing process of unveiling and looking at images invisible to the naked eye. Various modern infrared cameras can be used to detect deliberately painted IR images hiding the unexpected – a mysterious painting. Infrared painting (InfraredArt) opens additional space for the artist’s freedom to satisfy her need to hide motifs from the intimate and subconscious, while allowing secret messages to be carried in the spectrum that is invisible to the naked eye.
From the Labyrinths series, "Hidden Labyrinth 2", 2022, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 70 cm, in the visible and NIR spectrum
More on the website:
• Dijana Nazor. 2019. Infrared Painting – Double Paintings in a Blended Layer. Tiskarstvo & Design 2019. https://www.tiskarstvo.net/printing&design2019/clanci/Nazor/DijanaNazor.pdf (24. rujna 2019).
• 7 dnevno. Painter of Hidden Angels. https://www.7dnevno.hr/vijesti/kultura/slikarica-skrivenih-andela/ (24. rujna 2023).
• Dnevno hr. Angels hidden in a rug. https://www.dnevno.hr/magazin/andeli-skriveni-u-tepihu-senzacionalna-izlozba-napravljena-novom-metodom-infracrvenog-slikarstva-koja-je-proslavila-zagreb-u-svijetu-1931188/ (1. kolovoza 2023).
• Nacional. Infrared Secrets in Dijana Nazor’s Paintings.https://www.nacional.hr/infrared-tajne-u-slikama-dijane-nazor/(10. listopada 2016).