Enrico Magnani

The Supernova Dark Energy series achieves a visual synthesis of the fundamental components of the universe through an innovative material approach. Three distinct pigment qualities-traditional, phosphorescent, and fluorescent-combine to translate the essence of cosmic structure into artistic language.

Phosphorescence, already explored in the previous Supernova Dark Matter series, continues to serve as a powerful metaphor for Dark Matter: like this cosmic component that is invisible but detectable through its gravitational effects, phosphorescent pigments reveal their presence only under conditions of light absence, emerging from the darkness as traces of an otherwise imperceptible existence.

Fluorescence, on the other hand, introduces a new interpretive dimension, activating exclusively under the irradiation of ultraviolet light-the so-called “black light” that, while invisible to the human eye, possesses the ability to excite materials by making manifest otherwise hidden elements. This property offers itself as an extraordinary analogy of Dark Energy, that mysterious force that makes up 68 percent of the universe's contents and that, while not directly observable, determines the accelerated expansion of the cosmos.

The observer, called to interact with the work through the use of a UV source, transcends the passive role of spectator to become an active part of the revelation process. This direct involvement recreates, on an experiential scale, the work of the astrophysicist who, through specialized tools and methodologies, makes the imperceptible perceptible, transforming observation into an act of participation in the grand cosmological spectacle.

The series is thus configured as a bridge between scientific research and artistic practice, where light-in its various manifestations and absences-becomes the privileged medium for exploring the boundaries between visible and invisible, matter and energy, observation and participation.

The technique

The technique used for the realization of the Supernova series has also been applied to realize the "Dark Energy" collection. The artist exploits the effects of fluid-dynamics without touching the work with his hands, or with brushes, or with other instruments; every phase of the creation takes place at a distance. The multi-layer paper and aluminum panel lies submerged horizontally under a film of water. Operating from the center and employing the centrifugal force, jets of water and air move the pigments previously dropped by the artist on the support. This original technique is inspired by and attempts to reproduce, with all the limits of the case, the dynamics of the stellar explosion: the work thus created is very similar to the images captured through large telescopes. The “Dark Energy” collection contains a background of fluorescent and phosphorescent pigment that in the dark lights up, letting the emitted light filter through the darker colored spots of ordinary pigment and creating, at an optical level, a completely different, almost dual, new artwork.

The images on each page are obtained from a single work photographed with visible light (various colors), with ultraviolet light (blue fluorescence) and in the dark (green, orange or blue phosphorescence)