THE NEWS
WHEN THE APPLICATOR BECOMES THE ART Well, This Is Satisfying T Turns out there are two guys in Austin, TX with
a YouTube show called The Super Slow Show. The premise of the show is that they basically put themselves in bad situations and then replay the video back in, you guessed it, slo-mo. In a recent episode, they used four compressed air tanks to blast themselves with eight halfgallons of paint. The results are both colorful and satisfying. Check out the ‘Slo Mo Guys’ on YouTube, Season 1, Episode 1, Paint Blast Portrait.
‘Smart Paint’ Helps Visually Impaired Navigate Cities T The crosswalk outside the Ohio State School for the Blind in Columbus, OH may look like an ordinary crosswalk, but within the painted white lines is a lot of technology working to help the blind navigate the busy street. Developed by a team of 11 educational partners, industrial collaborators and city partners, the edges of the crosswalk feature ‘Smart Paint.’ Created by adding exotic lightconverting oxides to standard road paint, Smart Paint is activated by a sensor added to the tip of a white cane. When the cane touches the paint, it vibrates, guiding the user safely across the street. The paint can be clear—or gray on a gray surface—essentially invisible to sighted people. The school is exploring additional applications on the campus including sidewalks and bus stops, as well as ways to incorporate the technology with navigational tools and even smartphones. 10
inPAINT | May 2018
T While most people paint with brushes, Alexandra Dillon chooses to paint on them. The Los Angeles-based artist uses oil and acrylic paint to create striking portraits on discarded brushes. Each brush can take hours to create, including prep, which typically involves putting several layers of acrylic gesso on the brush face to hold the portrait. From there, she lets the object take the lead in the creation. “I don’t start out with a set idea for each brush,” she says. I let the ‘soul’ of the object speak for itself.” The result is one-of-a-kind portraits that range from stately to quirky. The biggest challenge for Dillon is finding old brushes on which to create her art. She will happily pay for used brushes, especially in larger sizes! She can be reached via email at info@alexandradillon.com or through her website: alexandradillon.com