Stuart Semple is marking the tenth anniversary of his infamous Pinkest Pink pigment by giving it away to the public for free — with one very specific exception: Anish Kapoor.
The commemorative edition of Pinkest Pink is now available worldwide via Semple’s Culture Hustle platform. Anyone can order a jar (paying only the postage), and each one comes hand-signed by the artist. As ever, buyers must agree to a familiar condition: they are not Anish Kapoor, are not associated with Anish Kapoor, and the pigment will not find its way into Kapoor’s hands.
The gesture revisits one of the art world’s most bizarre and entertaining feuds. In 2016, Kapoor secured the exclusive artistic rights to Vantablack, a material developed for aerospace technology that absorbs more than 99% of visible light, making objects coated in it appear almost like voids in space.
The deal caused outrage across the art community, with many artists questioning why one individual should control access to such a groundbreaking material. Semple’s response was immediate and mischievous: he released Pinkest Pink, an intensely saturated pigment available to anyone — except Kapoor.
The pigment quickly became a viral art-world phenomenon. But the saga escalated when Kapoor posted a photograph on Instagram showing his middle finger dipped into the pink powder with the caption: “Up yours #pink.”
What followed was a decade-long creative cat-and-mouse game. Semple released new materials — including the world’s glitteriest glitter, made from microscopic shards of glass so Kapoor couldn’t safely touch it. Kapoor, meanwhile, debuted sculptures coated in Vantablack at the Venice Biennale.
At one point Semple even opened a temporary “art shop” in London where Kapoor was explicitly banned from entering.
Kapoor later dismissed the dispute, describing Semple in an interview as a “silly young fellow.” Semple responded with a broader argument: that colour and artistic materials should belong to everyone.
Over the years, he has continued developing a range of experimental pigments through Culture Hustle, including several versions of a brush-applied super-black paint designed to rival Vantablack — again, available to all artists except Kapoor.
Ten years on, Kapoor still retains the exclusive rights to Vantablack in art. Meanwhile, Semple’s rebellious pigments have spread across the globe, used by hundreds of thousands of artists, designers and students.
Everyone, it seems, except one.
Semple’s new special commemorative edition of the Pinkest Pink is available now worldwide,
for free, from the artist’s website CultureHustle.com/pink
– to everyone except Anish Kapoor.
