Stuart semple creates a paint out of the invisible ‘olo’ color
Stuart Semple develops an acrylic paint based on the invisible Olo color that scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, recently discovered. Named YOLO, the artist writes on his Instagram post, ‘I’ve already liberated it.’ It’s because the researchers say this blue-green shade with an ‘unparalleled saturation’ is new, that it hasn’t been seen in public, invisible to the naked eye. Like his blackest ink and barbiest pink, he has made the Olo color available.
The acrylic paint blends high-frequency pigments and brighteners to let artist stimulate ‘specific wavelengths of visual experience.’ And by artists, Stuart Semple means that the Olo color acrylic paint is much more affordable for the creatives. Non-artists can buy the paint for 13,548.48 USD (yes, thousands of dollars). For the creatives, however, they can own Stuart Semple’s Olo color paint for 29.99 GBP (or 39,89). ‘To the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, this YOLO material will not make its way into the hands of a non-artist,’ he says.
Stuart Semple holding YOLO | all images courtesy of Stuart Semple and Culture Hustle, unless stated otherwise
Tiny, rapid laser lights to the eye trigger the color
Before Stuart Semple’s paint, the news about the new Olo color made its way to the public on April 18th, 2025. The researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington School of Medicine published their study, documenting how they were able to discover the invisible shade. They begin by understanding what colors people’s eyes see and narrow it down to three types of ‘cone’ cells. The S cones, or short wavelengths, see blue light, while the M cones, or medium wavelengths, see green light.
Then, there are the L cones, or long wavelengths, which see the red light. The researchers say that the M and L cones overlap a lot, so there’s no natural light that can only trigger the M cones alone. The study then questions what would happen if only the M (green) cones become stimulated. For the study, the team develops and uses micro-lasers that target individual cells in the eyes. They call it the Oz system, which aims to activate only the M cones. The scientists scan the retina first to figure out the position of the cone cells in the eyes. Once they have the cone map, the Oz system sends tiny, rapid laser pulses to only hit the specific cone cells , in this case, the M (green) ones.
Stuart Semple’s Olo-inspired color named YOLO
Oz system aims to help people with color blindness
Even though Oz only uses one color laser, which is green, it’s possible that the process can activate other combinations of the eyes’ cone cells. With this, the tiny light piercing the eyes can trick the person into seeing other colors. These include red, blue, purple, and even shades that they may have never seen before. Aside from uncovering a new shade like the Olo color, the one Stuart Semple has based his recent paint on, the researchers are finding ways to use the Oz system to study eye disease and vision loss. So far, they’re trying to explore if they can use the cone-by-cone activation to simulate cone loss in people without eye diseases.
They’re also looking into helping people with color blindness and letting them see all the colors of the rainbow using rapid lasers into the retina. On top of that, they’re exploring if they can use the technique to allow humans to see in tetrachromatic color, as if they had four sets of cone cells. In the meantime, the researchers have shared their findings with the public, enough to pique their interest as to whether or not the new shade hasn’t existed before. At least with Stuart Semple, the Olo color appears vividly visible as a high-frequency acrylic paint (mainly for artists).
the acrylic paint blends of high-frequency pigments and brighteners
the YOLO paint is available (mostly for the artists)
Professor Austin Roorda demonstrates being part of the Oz experiment | photo by Austin Roorda, courtesy of the University of California, Berkeley
