Petty Paint Saved 2016
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Petty Paint Saved 2016

Two Artists, One Color, and Five New Pigments

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Petty Paint Saved 2016
Domus Web

I've decided that instead of focusing on the massive disapointment of today to focus on something from the disapointment of last year. For most people, 2016 was a horrible year that ended in the deaths of many major celebrities. What many people don't know is that the year ended petty.

It all started with Vantablack, the world's darkest material ever made. If someone were to wear a Vantablack shirt, then that person would look like they had a hole on their body. Humans cannot process looking at Vantablack because it absorbs up to 99.965% of the visible light spectrum. Naturally, every artist wanted to use it.

Enter Anish Kapoor. He is a British sculptor known worldwide for his art. He gained the exclusive rights to use Vantablack. This infuriated a great many artists.

Including Stuart Semple. Semple is an artist with a degree in nanotechnology which helps him make pigments. For you readers who aren't drawing/coloring/painting artists, pigments are what painters use to combine colors and create new colors for paint. Vantablack is not a pigment and cannot be combined with pigments. Keep this in mind for later.

Anyway, Semple is an artist and makes amazing pigments for a living. In response to not being allowed to use Vantablack, Semple released the world's pinkest pink (known as Pink) to everyone except Anish Kapoor. When buying the pinkest pink, the buyer has to sign off that they are not Anish Kapoor, they are not associated with Anish Kapoor, and that the pinkest pink will in no way reach Anish Kapoor, otherwise legal action would be taken. The only way for Kapoor to legally use the pinkest pink would be to let everyone use Vantablack.

On December 23, 2016, Kapoor was given a container of Pink. He stuck his middle finger in it and flipped off the camera, telling Semple, "Up yours #pink."

Immediately, the internet fans of the feud were abuzz with what Semple would do next. He banned Kapoor from the world's glitteriest glitter, Diamond Dust. Diamond Dust is not like ordinary glitter. Ordinary glitter is made with plastic and sequins because it's cheap and quick to create. Diamond Dust is made with glass. (Glass glitter makes the colors in the painting appear far more clear than plastic glitter does and it sparkles more too.) By banning Kapoor from Diamond Dust, he not only told him he couldn't use another of his products, but that if he tried to flick off the camera again, he would regret it greatly.

Semple also investigated to see who gave Kapoor the Pink. Turns out, it was the Lisson Gallery. Semple asked for either one of two things from the Gallery for violating his rules. They were to either A) apologize for giving the Pink to Kapoor, take the Pink away from Kapoor, and have Kapoor write 100 lines saying, "I will be nice, I will share my colours," and put it on his Instagram, or B) reimburse the cost of the Pink and make Kapoor share the Vantablack. As of January 20, 2017, neither of these have happened.

Then, Semple made "A blacker black." Semple made the world's blackest black pigment. It isn't as dark as Vantablack, but it is extremely close to the effect of Vantablack. Semple still has a few kinks to work out in the pigment, so it's not ready yet, but it will be soon.

It is unknown where this feud will go next. So far, Kapoor hasn't gotten his hands on Diamond Dust and he's making Vantablack sculptures. Semple made the world's yellowest yellow (called "Yellow") and the world's greenest green (called "Green") and banned Kapoor from those pigments too, but Kapoor hasn't done anything about it. In any case, what happens will be petty.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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