Every day something wonderful happens to you: you can see. And not just see, but see in color. You get used to seeing, to such an extent, that you don’t even ask yourself about how many colors you can actually see. Let me tell you, so that you can sleep well tonight: up to 1 million shades!
If you find this number impressively large, you should know that there are people – usually, women – that can distinguish 100 times more shades than a normal person. They are called tetrachromats – because, instead of three, they have four types of photoreceptor cells.
Nobody knows how many tetrachromats are in the world, but they do live among us. But how come we don’t hear much about them?! Because not even they know what they are. It’s hard to tell that you are actually perceiving more shades than others around you.
One more thing: the brain doesn’t pay attention to useless things. It has the tendency to simplify all that is of no interest. No matter how many shades of colors your eyes may record, the brain won’t analyze them unless it’s necessary.
Concetta Antico is a tetrachromat. Moreover, she is a visual artist since childhood and a long-experienced Art teacher. You got it: she works with color on a daily basis! In a nutshell, she enjoys the optimal conditions of perceiving as many colors as possible. Something that is truly rare to find.
Curious to find out more, we did some talking. A discussion which, of course, shall be presented to you in the following lines…
Continue reading Concetta Antico – the 100 Million Shades Painter