artTuesday, July 7, 2026

Blackest black and creative process

Today's art coverage splits between the material and the metaphysical. One piece traces humanity's centuries-long quest for the blackest black, from cave charcoal to Vantablack. Another cluster of stories digs into how designers and artists think across mediums, with Aiqi Zhang and Victoria Ruiz offering thoughtful reflections on process and empathy.

Sources

The pursuit of black

One article stands out for its scope: the human obsession with creating the blackest black, told from prehistoric pigments to lab-grown super-black coatings.

#01tcnv.linkJul 7

How to create the blackest black ever known – from nature to nanotechnology

A sweeping look at the cultural and scientific drive to produce the blackest black, from ancient charcoal to Vantablack. It's a rare piece that connects art history with materials science.

5 min readRead original

Creative process

Several pieces today focus on how artists and designers think, work, and cross boundaries between mediums.

#02alistapart.comJul 7

I am a creative.

Jeffrey Zeldman reflects on creativity as an alchemical, intuitive process, a personal essay that contrasts with more analytical takes on making art.

#03www.creativeboom.comJul 7

'What if this idea lived somewhere else?' Aiqi Zhang on designing across mediums

Aiqi Zhang of Mother LA talks about moving ideas across mediums, typefaces become blankets, films use handcrafted typography. A good profile of a restless designer.

#04www.creativeboom.comJul 7

Through costume, performance and memory, Victoria Ruiz turns empathy into a form of resistance

Venezuelan-born artist Victoria Ruiz uses costume, performance, and memory to turn empathy into resistance. Her work addresses migration and fragmented identity.