fabian oefner's iridescent oil spills form radiant color canvases

fabian oefner continues his exploration of iridescence with a new series of photographs titled ‘oil spill’. for this latest creative experiment, the artist poured water into a black reservoir and added small drops of oil onto the water’s surface using a syringe. upon contact with the water, the oil quickly expand to form magnificent iridescent structures and colorful compositions that look like stars exploding, or close-range images of the human eye. 

the spectrum of colors present in fabian oefner’s ‘oil spill’ series are the result of the reflection and refraction of light as it passes through the oil film and back into the camera. depending on the thickness of the film, the hues change from blue, to green, to red, until they finally disappear again. ‘what I like about the series is that it is quite a simple phenomenon, yet strikingly magic and beautiful,’ oefner says. ‘it came to my mind when I was sitting outside my studio on a rainy day and observed a thin film of petrol on a water puddle. so I got inside again and started to recreate the setup in a more controlled environment. finally, after many different setups and hundreds of images, the exploration resulted in these ten photographs.’

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