About the Artist
“…and fortunately for us - she paints! "
The Huffington Post
Concetta Antico is an Australian born critically acclaimed artist best known for her signature use of vibrant color and impressionist scenes. Renowned worldwide as The Color Queen, Concetta paints original works that unite nature and science through a style of kaleidoscopic color and brushwork.
Her work has been chronicled extensively and has attracted a large audience worldwide. Her paintings have appeared in many publications and broadcast media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, VOGUE, BBC, Nine Network Australia and The Guardian. Her paintings are held by hundreds of collectors across the US, Australia, Europe and Asia and have been exhibited in galleries across the US and Australia.
‘Super vision’ is her super power
Concetta’s ability to perceive and express otherworldly colors through painting is the result of an extremely rare condition. Her “super vision’, is known by the scientific term of Tetrachromacy, or as a 2022 article in the Wall Street Journal reported ‘the rare gift of seeing extra colors’. Created by a genetic mutation passed through the X chromosome, tetrachromats have four types of cones in their eyes (most humans have three), which allows them to perceive up to 100 million more colors than the average person.
The scientific phenomenon of Tetrachromacy was first discovered in 1948. Concetta’s particularly strong case of Tetrachromacy was documented in a study conducted by the University of California in 2016 “K.A Jameson: Human Potential for Tetrachromacy). Studies of her rare gift are ongoing.
Concetta first established The Salon of Art Gallery in San Diego, California in 1995 as a showcase for her large body of work and one of the world’s first live painting event spaces for over 25 years.
At this time Concetta is the world’s only known Tetrachromatic artist, making her paintings highly collectable and rare. As the Huffington Post commented, “And fortunately for us – she paints!”. Concetta currently lives and works between San Diego and Sydney.
You can visit her headquarters, public gallery and studio located at 7655 Fay Avenue, La Jolla, San Diego, California Wednesday 3 – 9 pm, Thursday 11 – 5pm, Friday 11 – 9pm, Saturday & Sunday 11 – 5pm & by Appointment.
Original works and prints by Concetta Antico are available for worldwide shipping at www.concettaantico.com
About Tetrachromacy
Tetrachromacy is a condition that allows some people to see colors that are not visible to most of the population. It is a condition that results when an additional type of color receptor cell is present in the eye. With normal color vision, humans can see approximately one million different colors. Tetrachromats can perceive an estimated 100 million color variations
Tetrachromacy amplifies the eye’s ability to distinguish between shades of colors. This creates a visual result that some might call ‘super vision’. Tetrachromacy is a rare genetic phenomenon that is believed to only affect females, with an estimated 12% of women worldwide who may be Tetrachromatic.
The idea of some women being Tetrachromatic first originated in 1948 by Dutch scientist (H. L.) de Vries. His hypothesis focused on the inherited factors of this condition. De Vries speculated that Tetrachromatic women were daughters of people with anomalous trichromacy.
Anomalous trichromacy is a type of congenital color blindness. All three cones are present, but one type doesn’t function properly. This condition prevents some people from being able to distinguish between certain colors.
The gene related to color vision is on the X chromosome. Tetrachromacy is caused by a genetic mutation on this chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes (one inherited from the mother and one from the father).
As such, there is potentially a higher likelihood for women to have an anomalous gene for a fourth type of cone in the retina. Males have an X and a Y chromosome, decreasing the chance of tetrachromacy. In fact, males have a greater likelihood of being color blind for this reason.
Some researchers believe color blindness in a woman’s father or son raises the odds of having four cone types. They estimate that the milder the color blindness, the higher the chance of Tetrachromacy in related females.
One can imagine Tetrachromats see the world with more color vibrancy than most. Sensing even minor differences in shades may be useful to artists and those who work with color.
As a Tetrachromat Artist Concetta functions at a master artist level. She has been discovered and confirmed to have the genotype for Tetrachromacy – possessing four color receptors in her eyes, and with this gift she is able to define dramatically more color than the average human vision.
Read the 2016 study into Tetrachrome Artist Concetta Antico. University of California in 2016 “K.A Jameson: Human Potential for Tetrachromacy“.
Concetta Antico is a Tetrachromatic artist
