Anish Kapoor vs Stuart Semple: The Art World’s Pettiest Feud

In this episode of The Compendium, we dive into the hilarious and dramatic saga of Anish Kapoor vs Stuart Semple: The Art World’s Pettiest Feud. It’s a story about the world’s blackest black, the brightest pink, and a feud that rocked the art world. Discover how exclusivity and artistic activism collided when Kapoor claimed the rights to Vantablack, sparking Semple’s colourful counterattack with Pinkest Pink. From petty antics to groundbreaking art innovation, this episode explores the ongoing battle for inclusivity, creativity, and, of course, the blackest black paint.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

1. The Pinkest Pink Paint – Culture Hustle
2. Vantablack Explained – Surrey NanoSystems
3. Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate – Art Institute Chicago
4. The Story of Black 4.0 – Stuart Semple’s YouTube Channel
5. The Feud That Shaped Modern Art Activism – ArtNet

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Credits:

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• Intro and Outro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin
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Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak peak
• 1:06 Welcome to The Compendium
• 2:29 Topic of the week
• 46:24 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So in the background we can see an open jar of samples pink as pink.

[00:00:05] A small amount has spilled onto the clinical white tablecloth, indicating the jar was opened in a frenzy of excitement or agitation, or perhaps both. In the foreground we see Kapoor's right hand in close up. The middle finger is extended upwards towards the camera while the rest of the hand is ball tightly forming a furious fist.

[00:00:24] We also see that the middle finger expressing a silent profanity has been violently dipped deeply into the jar of pink pigment just moments before the photograph was taken.

[00:00:33] Kapoor has shoved his middle finger in Stuart Semple's pinkest pink. 

[00:00:38] Adam Cox: How childish. 

[00:00:39] Kyle Risi: He's so childish. [00:01:00]

[00:01:07] Welcome to The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating things. A weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information on a topic to help you stand your ground at any social gathering. We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, and the who's who of extraordinary people.

[00:01:25] I'm your ringmaster for this episode, Kyle Recy.

[00:01:28] Adam Cox: And I'm your sword swallower, Adam Cox, this week. 

[00:01:31] Kyle Risi: I'm sure you've been a sword swallower before. 

[00:01:33] Adam Cox: No, first time. First time for everything. 

[00:01:35] Kyle Risi: Welcome to the party then. Freaks, this is a PSA announcement. Letting you know that All The Day Sings is now its own episode exclusively available for free on our Patreon. You can listen to more of us and our weekly ramblings of fascinating facts and tidbits about everything we've discovered over the last seven days. 

[00:01:55] All you need to do is sign up as a free member and enjoy our bonus content.

[00:01:59] [00:02:00] And don't forget signing up gives you access to next week's episode, a full seven days before anyone else. You can also support the compendium by signing up as a certified freak, which gives you access to all of our upcoming episodes.

[00:02:12] Of course, we understand that paying a few dollars is sometimes not an option for some, which is fine, completely fine. But if you still want to show your support for the show, then you can help us by leaving a review on your favorite podcast and app. Your support really helps us reach even more freaks of the show.

[00:02:27] But Adam, today's compendium. We are diving into an assembly of bold colors and even bolder grudges. 

[00:02:35] Adam Cox: There's not really a lot to go off on that. 

[00:02:37] Kyle Risi: Today we are revisiting the art world. 

[00:02:39] Adam Cox: Is it a scandalous art story? 

[00:02:41] Kyle Risi: No, it's a fun one. I'm going to be telling you the story about the pettiest feud between two highly acclaimed artists called Anish Kapoor and Stuart Semple that recently unfolded in the art world. And when I say this story is a saga, that is an [00:03:00] underestimation.

[00:03:00] This story is about themes of exclusivity, accessibility, and the democratization of art when a very rich pompous artist decided to legally hoard a newly discovered medium for his own personal and commercial use. 

[00:03:15] Adam Cox: What does that even mean? Say more things and I'll see if it jogs something. 

[00:03:18] Kyle Risi: Okay, because he had hoarded this newly found medium, this caused absolute outrage in the artistic community. But one artist, rather than sitting by and allowing this to happen, responded by creating and selling his own unique set of colored paints that would be available to everyone on the planet except for this one artist. Sparking a series of tit for tat exchanges that would acclimate in one of the artists legally changing his name to his arch nemesis name. 

[00:03:47] So it's a really fun story that explores inclusivity versus exclusivity in the art world using art as a form of protest with the silliest of results, highlighting the importance of [00:04:00] democratization in the art world.

[00:04:01] What is so wholesome about the story is that it proves that when people are at odds with each other rather than spiring down into bitterness, name calling, threats, and violence, There's always another way that is humorous and more playful that can still be really effective. 

[00:04:17] Adam Cox: It is interesting that these artists, have they not got something better to do?

[00:04:20] Kyle Risi: I know, right? Aren't you professional artists? Don't you like have a day job to be doing? Today Adam, I'm going to be telling you about the very silly spat between Anish Kapoor and Stuart Semple. 

[00:04:30] So, have you heard about this before? You said that the name Anish Kapoor rang a bell to you. 

[00:04:34] Adam Cox: Anish Kapoor, yeah, but I'm trying to think what, you mentioned about paint, but I'm now, I'm not the guy that, Copyrighted a paint.

[00:04:43] Kyle Risi: Yes, it is. Well done. It's not quite a paint I mean it looks and feels like a paint, but it's technically not a paint It's actually a really important piece of technology, but the way that people saw it was that he was holding a paint 

[00:04:56] Adam Cox: Okay, 

[00:04:57] Kyle Risi: So you may remember when we used to live back [00:05:00] in the flat in the city I received a little package containing four different powdered paint pots called the pinkest pink, the yellowest yellow, the bluest blue, and the greenest green.

[00:05:11] Do you remember those?

[00:05:11] Adam Cox: Yeah, I do. 

[00:05:12] Kyle Risi: Well, it was out of this exact spat that we're covering today that I came to get hold of those paints all those years ago. What? That must have been like ten years ago now. Is it really that long?

[00:05:22] So Adam, let's start with the nemesis of today's story. 

[00:05:26] He is a guy called Anish Kapoor. Believe it or not, he is a fully grown adult man with a temper of a five year old. Definitely that kind of kid at school who never shared his crayons with anyone. So I imagine he ate lunch alone a lot, every day.

[00:05:40] Anish was born in 1954 and is a British Indian sculptor who has become one of the most renowned and influential contemporary artists of our time. He is an installation artist you've most definitely seen his artwork before. 

[00:05:53] Adam Cox: What's he done? 

[00:05:54] Kyle Risi: His most famous piece you may have seen is this huge outdoor sculpture called Cloud Gate. Currently it's situated in [00:06:00] Chicago's Millennium Park it's this huge 33 foot high and 66 foot long chrome bean shaped blob And it's called kind of clown gate because it kind of reflects the skyline It's because of its shape that people just call it the bean, so everyone just calls it the bean.

[00:06:15] Yeah, I know the bean. So yeah, he essentially made that, and I can tell you he hates the fact that people call it The Bean, which I think tells us a bit about his character and who he is as a person. At one point he tried to make it impossible for people to take photographs of it without any authorization.

[00:06:33] So he would situate security guards standing kind of at all four corners of the square stopping people from taking photos, but of course, this is a public space, so after 18 months of exhaustively trying to prevent people from taking photos, he was just forced to surrender and like, just let people take their photographs.

[00:06:49] Adam Cox: Didn't want people to take photos, put that installation into a museum, and then control it that way. 

[00:06:54] Kyle Risi: Exactly. Why would you put it in a public space? Because he's an idiot. 

[00:06:58] But also remember, this is [00:07:00] 2004, when phones were like, just starting to have cameras, but also. He's really short sighted because letting people take photos and sharing them online is how things get embedded in the mainstream and get popular.

[00:07:12] So I think he just missed a trick there. I think he eventually realized, actually, hang on, people are sharing this and it's attracting more people to come and see my sculpture. 

[00:07:19] But when it's in a public square, you're not paying for admittance. So just anyone in the public can come. So I guess, like, I don't know what he was thinking.

[00:07:27] He's just an idiot. 

[00:07:28] Adam Cox: Yeah, but he approved to be in a public space without any kind of ticket prices. 

[00:07:31] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's true. 

[00:07:32] So that is his most famous work. But at this point, he had been an artist for more than 40 years already. In 2013, he was knighted by the queen. And usually these sorts of works, a lot of which are on public display across the world, always very grand and very expensive.

[00:07:49] The last estimate I found of his net worth was like 700 million dollars. Can you imagine? Like you, I've always associated artists with being like living hand to mouth and not being able to support [00:08:00] themselves. He is worth 700 million dollars. Who is buying his artwork? There's no private collectors buying his artwork. It's got to just be universities and councils and local authorities and things like that. 

[00:08:12] Adam Cox: And Chicago, which wants a giant bean. I know. That must have cost a pretty penny. 

[00:08:17] Kyle Risi: know, but I never know how to feel about these huge installation pieces at the best of times. Like who, who is funding him making these bits of artwork? Like, is he just making it and going, yeah, I'm going to easy sell this or is someone commissioning him to make this piece? 

[00:08:33] Adam Cox: Of course. Yeah. It must be city councils or whoever's land that is going on. 

[00:08:37] Kyle Risi: Yeah. But the city councils don't know shit about fuck most of the time. How do they know? Do they go do you know what we need? Is we need a big chrome bean and yeah, I'm going to commission someone to make it. Or is he making it and then trying to find a buyer for it? 

[00:08:52] Adam Cox: I imagine they're probably looking for something and he pitches an idea that needs to be reflective, this, that, the other. 

[00:08:58] Kyle Risi: I guess the question we're [00:09:00] asking here is, what is art? Who decides? Who decides that's what art is? 

[00:09:04] Adam Cox: I bet Anish Kapoor decides if that's art. 

[00:09:07] Kyle Risi: It's like the banana guy who made a banana and stuck it to a wall. 

[00:09:10] Adam Cox: And then ate it. 

[00:09:11] Kyle Risi: How much did he sell it for? Five million dollars or something. What an idiot. What an idiot. 

[00:09:17] Adam, let me introduce you to the hero of our story. A simple man who goes by the name of Stuart Semple. He is also a fully grown man with a temperament of a middle school anti bully. He is the guy who bullied all the bullies and protected the ordinary kids essentially.

[00:09:32] That's what he's doing in this story. He is, in his own right, a successful artist. He was born in 1980 and he is what you call a multidisciplinary artist, which means he uses just about pretty much every medium possible. In comparison to Anish, Stuart is more of an idealistic artist who believes that art should be free and accessible and inclusive to everyone.

[00:09:52] Whereas Anish Kapoor is like, and Stuart, isn't really profit driven in the same way that Anish is. His work is more about spreading [00:10:00] joy. He calls his audience participants. And most of his work are known for being really fun and approachable. 

[00:10:06] The first time I ever heard of him was in 2009 in response to the recession where he did this thing called Happy Clouds at the Tate Modern in London, where basically he just created thousands of these smiley face clouds made from kind of soap bubbles infused with helium dyed with like pink vegetable dye.

[00:10:21] So all of a sudden there's just all these amazing plate sized clouds of smiley faces floating around the city just to kind of spread some joy, right? So following this, he ended up doing this all over the world, earning him a ton of recognition and awards in the process.

[00:10:34] So by this point, Anish and Stuart have never met before. They were in fact from two different spectrums of the art world. 

[00:10:42] So a little spat begins in 2014 when a company called Surrey Nano Systems announced that they have created a new type of black paint that at the time was the blackest substance on the planet, which they decided to call Vantablack. But it's not technically a [00:11:00] paint as such. 

[00:11:00] Adam Cox: Is it what, is it more of a dust or a chalk? 

[00:11:03] Kyle Risi: Well, it's these tiny nanotubes of carbon that are all stacked up like a bunch of straws and it's capable of absorbing 99. 96 percent of all the photons that kind of enter it, which is kind of obviously the light.

[00:11:15] So it's not a pigment as such, it's more of a coating with carefully arranged kind of tubes all stacked on top of each other. 

[00:11:22] Adam Cox: Okay, so can you use it as a paint then? 

[00:11:25] Kyle Risi: Can use it as paint. It can be applied to paint, but it has to be applied very carefully, essentially. So it's more of a coating. It was invented to be used by the military with the idea of hiding kind of stealth aircraft.

[00:11:37] It also had applications in astronomy because it could help block out and absorb any ambient light in the vicinity letting telescopes kind of see way more clearly. However, commercially his most commonly ended up in using watch faces. 

[00:11:50] So all the years and the millions of dollars spent on research and development to discover this new technology ends up being used on watch faces.

[00:11:58] Adam Cox: Oh. So that feels [00:12:00] like a slight waste of time. 

[00:12:01] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, humans do that all the time, right? 

[00:12:03] Adam Cox: Yeah. I mean, I would know if I could be able to tell if that was a black watch face versus just a regular back. 

[00:12:09] Kyle Risi: No, you would be able to tell. Okay. Yeah. It. Essentially anything that you coat in it, let's say if you take a three dimensional objects like this glass or my laptop and you painted it in Vantablack, it would just look like a two dimensional object, completely flat.

[00:12:22] It would just look like a black hole. It's really incredible stuff. But of course, it's super expensive. So the watches that do use this cost upwards in the region of like 50, 000. So still pretty exclusive piece of technology. 

[00:12:36] But also. Because it's really tricky to work with, it's extremely flammable over a certain temperature. So you need all sorts of protective equipment when handling it. So for general commercial use, it's not really that viable. That was until one day Anish Kapoor came along and said, I've got lots of money. and I want to buy the exclusive rights to using Vantablack in any artworks from now until the rest [00:13:00] of time.

[00:13:00] Adam Cox: Just artworks? Everything else it can be used in but if I'm, you know, making a painting? 

[00:13:05] Kyle Risi: It's his commercial use as an artist that he can use it so obviously the other companies that are using it and licensing it like BMW use it for their kind of commercial purposes. It's purely for Anish Kapoor's commercial purposes only.

[00:13:17] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:13:18] Kyle Risi: And he felt like he was the right person to own this exclusive rights to Vantablack commercially because he'd already previously created a piece of artwork that's currently displayed in a gallery in Portugal somewhere. And basically it's a 2. 5 meter deep hole painted with ultra black pigment. Not Vantablack at this point, but really, really black paint.

[00:13:36] Adam Cox: So he thinks, Oh, I did a black painting already. Essentially. 

[00:13:39] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and he's got a lot of money, and he's really rich, and he's a knight. 

[00:13:43] Adam Cox: Well, that sounds like arrogance. 

[00:13:45] Kyle Risi: Exactly. Yes. So basically, when he painted this hole with this ultra black paint, it created this illusion of like a bottomless pit. And because it's so black, it absorbs most of the light that enters in it. So it ends up looking like a two dimensional circle [00:14:00] painted on the floor. But in reality, it's a 2. 5 meter hole in this gallery. Of course, it's very dangerous because if you don't realize it's a hole, you will of course fall in, which is exactly what happened to a six year old Italian guy back in 2018. A A six year old Italian guy? Did I say six? I meant 60. Okay, I was trying to figure 

[00:14:18] Adam Cox: out, like, what? A six year old old guy. I mean, some babies look like old men sometimes. That's true. But six, I hope you'd grown out of it by then. 

[00:14:26] Kyle Risi: Yes. Basically, he created a real world version of the Coyote Wiley holes in Looney Tunes.

[00:14:32] Adam Cox: Oh right, yeah, I got you. You think, I would fall for that, but with this kind of black, I guess you would. 

[00:14:38] Kyle Risi: Yes, so he felt that he was going to put Fancy Black to good use and try and capture more old Italian men.

[00:14:45] So he secures the rights. He made it impossible for any artist to access it. And when that was announced, the art world went into this absolute frenzy, all furious that the super rich, wealthy, privileged artists thought it was his right to commandeer [00:15:00] this new paint technology that thousands of other artists would have been desperate to kind of get their hands on.

[00:15:05] Adam Cox: They also want to capture 60 year old men. 

[00:15:08] Kyle Risi: Yes. And it is really incredible stuff. Like I said, if you paint like a three dimensional object using it, it just renders it completely flat. So it looks like just a silhouette. And so this is where Stuart simple stepped in and announced that he wasn't going to stand for any of this.

[00:15:22] Adam Cox: Okay. 

[00:15:23] Kyle Risi: Now it feels like it's a perfect time to take a quick break. And when we come back, We're going to explore how Stuart Semple took a stand against Vantablack's exclusivity and what he decided to do in retaliation Because it's a complete opposite of black. White. It's pink. That's not opposite of black. 

[00:15:40] So Adam, welcome back. So far, so good. We have seen how Anish Kapoor claimed exclusive rights to Vanser Black across the art world. But the story is far from over, wasn't going to stand for it. Enter Stuart Simple with a plan to [00:16:00] fight back in the most creative way possible.

[00:16:02] So by this time Stuart had already been making his own pigments and paints for several years now, seeing how greedy, obviously, anish Kapoor was being this inspired him to release his own paints in protest and one of those was called the pinkest pink Which is what one of those little jars were that I bought back in the flat and basically It's just a super saturated neon pink pigment, which costs like three dollars 99 to make He doesn't really make any money from it. The price just largely covers the cost and the production of the physical paint itself. 

[00:16:31] Adam Cox: And is it really the pinkest pink? How do you measure that? Because the black you're saying it absorbs all the light. Whereas a pink, how do we know that's pink?

[00:16:37] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, he does have a little disclaimer on his website that says yes, it's the pinkest pink, but we can't verify whether or not it is the pinkest pink, but it is the pinkest pink that we've ever found. 

[00:16:45] Adam Cox: So this is just all marketing. 

[00:16:47] Kyle Risi: It's all just marketing tongue and cheek. And it's purely to just to drive a particular message. And basically he was sending Anish Kapoor that if you're going to hold the world black as black or for yourself, then I will [00:17:00] create the world's pinkest pink. That everyone on the planet can use except for you. So if you go onto his website, which is culturehustle. com, it says the world's pinkest pink powder paint by Stuart Semple.

[00:17:10] In the description it says this ultra bright pink by Stuart Semple is available to everyone except for Anish Kapoor, who will in brackets, won't share his black. 

[00:17:19] Adam Cox: So he actually put this on his website? 

[00:17:21] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you can go and see it. It's all there for you. So he's calling out him specifically that he's not allowed to buy this. Yeah, not for you, not for us. 

[00:17:30] So of course, when you go and add the paint to your basket, you've got to agree to the terms that say, note, by adding this product to your cart, you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are no way affiliated with Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Or associated with Anish Kapoor. To the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, this paint will not make it into the hands of Anish Kapoor. Hashtag share the black. 

[00:17:51] Adam Cox: Okay. I mean, I like that he did that. I love how petty it is! I'm interested to know how he can police [00:18:00] this. Because Aside from the order name being Anish Kapoor and maybe his address, if he's looked that up, how can you stop him from buying that? 

[00:18:08] Kyle Risi: Well, it's going to come a bit clearer in a minute. But this was all just about making a statement against Anish Kapoor. So man, this is what happens when you don't share your crayons with other kids, basically. And this of course gets Stuart Semple huge amounts of media attention and from there this breaks out into this funny little story that everyone all of a sudden is very interested in.

[00:18:29] And then of course Stuart also releases three other colors in the same collection and the message for all of those was Anish can have his black but the rest of us can play with a rainbow. 

[00:18:40] Adam Cox: Ah, I see.

[00:18:42] Kyle Risi: But on top of this as well. Just to kind of, like, drive a knife in it, Stuart arranges for a bunch of people to wear really bright pink lipstick and then go and kiss the bean sculpture in Chicago on Anish Kapoor's birthday. That's like vandalism, isn't it? That's just a bit of lipstick. What are they going to do? Just wipe it off. 

[00:18:59] Adam Cox: And he's just got to [00:19:00] come down each day and wipe that off, I bet. 

[00:19:02] Kyle Risi: He hates it. He hates it. So to, of course, everyone's surprise, the Pink is Pink starts selling in huge amounts, hence why I came to buy some. So things are about to escalate from here because this Petty response is about to get really deep under the skin of one of the world's richest, most acclaimed artists.

[00:19:20] And to be honest, even Stuart Semple was surprised by this reaction. He honestly thought he would just sell a handful of jars, but then the world just ended up falling into this frenzy.

[00:19:30] So by this time it's now 2016 during a time when Instagram was at its peak. So I think this really went a long way in catapulting this forward further into the mainstream. Stuart's Instagram becomes inundated with followers proudly declaring that they are in no way affiliated with Anish Kapoor in any way.

[00:19:48] So about a month after the pink is pink drops over on Anish Kapoor's Instagram which is called Dirty Corner which you can go and visit. 

[00:19:56] Adam Cox: Dirty Corner? Dirty Corner, yeah. I don't know if I like that name. No, [00:20:00] it's 

[00:20:00] Kyle Risi: not the nicest name, is it? But it's filled with kind of all his installation bits of artwork. Some of them just look a bit shit. Some of them just look like someone set a fire in a corner of a room and it's all like tarnished with black smoke and paint and stuff. And it's worth 700 million? I know, it's ridiculous. 

[00:20:16] But his artworks are massive. Okay. Like they take up entire warehouses. So basically on his Instagram, a photograph appeared on his page.

[00:20:24] I'm going to show you the image now, then I'm going to describe it in the same way that an art critic might describe the same picture. Let's see how accurate I can get it. 

[00:20:32] So in the background we can see an open jar of samples pink as pink.

[00:20:36] A small amount has spilled onto the clinical white tablecloth, indicating the jar was opened in a frenzy of excitement or agitation, or perhaps both. In the foreground we see Kapoor's right hand in close up. The middle finger is extended upwards towards the camera while the rest of the hand is ball tightly forming a furious fist.

[00:20:55] We also see that the middle finger expressing a silent profanity has been violently [00:21:00] dipped deeply into the jar of pink pigment just moments before the photograph was taken.

[00:21:04] Kapoor has shoved his middle finger in Stuart Semple's pinkest pink. 

[00:21:09] Adam Cox: How childish. 

[00:21:10] Kyle Risi: He's so childish. So, yeah, basically, there, that is the photograph. Of course, I'll share it with you guys in the show notes so you can kind of see it for yourself. But Adam, what do you think? 

[00:21:20] Adam Cox: I think, I go back to my original comment maybe earlier on. These people must have something better to do. I know! 

[00:21:28] Kyle Risi: Quite honestly, for a distinguished artist like Anish Kapoor, who's over 60 years old with a knighthood, this is probably the worst reaction to this. Like, the worst thing you can do in a petty argument like this is show the other person you even care!

[00:21:42] Adam Cox: I know, it's almost like It's like Donald Trump tweeting. It's kind of like, it's like the art version of that. 

[00:21:48] Kyle Risi: Exactly, exactly. The reaction is trying to show that he doesn't care, but in doing so he's showing that he very much does care, just like Donald Trump would do. Like by tweeting a response he's showing that actually he does care, regardless of what [00:22:00] the tweet is.

[00:22:00] He's agitated. Exactly and the comments are just priceless. If you do get a chance, then go and check it out.

[00:22:06] Adam Cox: So it's still on Anish Kapoor's Instagram page? 

[00:22:07] Kyle Risi: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you do have to scroll quite far down to find it, but you will see it, especially amongst all the other drab photographs that are on there, this one stands out the most. 

[00:22:16] Adam Cox: Yeah, I just thought maybe after, this is back in 2016, he may have just like let things go, but it's still on his page.

[00:22:24] Kyle Risi: It's still on there. I guess it's also attracting him a lot of attention, right? This little spat. 

[00:22:28] Adam Cox: Yeah, true. 

[00:22:29] Kyle Risi: And the comments are just priceless. it's currently ranked up around 4, 000 comments now, and it's just filled with people just commenting, Okay, Bean Boy.

[00:22:36] Bean Boy. Bean Boy. It's just, it's just hundreds and hundreds of comments of just people going, Okay, bean boy.

[00:22:41] Okay, bean boy. Okay, bean boy.

[00:22:43] So Stuart is not having any of this. So he goes into detective mode and starts investigating how Kapoor had somehow found a gap in his very airtight protocol that was supposed to prevent him from getting his hands on the pinkest pink. 

[00:22:57] Adam Cox: I'm sorry, airtight, [00:23:00] Protocol. You gotta check a checkbox, Adam. I mean, I agree to the terms and conditions. I haven't read them. I know I have to. But I, you know. 

[00:23:07] But this is how the lawyers can come after you. True. 

[00:23:10] Kyle Risi: So what he discovers is that Anish arranged for someone at the Lisson Gallery in London to purchase the Pink is Pink on his behalf.

[00:23:18] Stuart writes a letter to the directors of the gallery telling them that they had been very naughty for breaching the terms of his website and that he had asked them very nicely that Mr. Kapoor say sorry for hurting everyone's feelings. 

[00:23:31] Adam Cox: And did Mr. Kapoor say sorry? 

[00:23:33] Kyle Risi: No, of course he didn't. What is brilliant is that this letter is written like an annoyed kindergarten teacher, like 

[00:23:40] Adam Cox: I'm disappointed.

[00:23:41] Kyle Risi: I'm disappointed. I'm not angry. I'm disappointed. He tells the board that Anish had two options in order to settle this dispute. 

[00:23:48] Option one was that the Lissong Gallery apologized for giving Kapoor the pinkest pink and for Anish to give the pink back because Simple said, I just do not want him to have [00:24:00] it.

[00:24:01] He also wanted Anish to hand write a hundred lines saying, I will be very nice, I will share my colours, which he had to then post as evidence on his Instagram account. 

[00:24:09] Option two was that Anish could reimburse the 3. 99, but he had to also void any exclusivity agreement that he had to use Vantablack.

[00:24:19] Then he signed the letter saying, If I were to settle as the above, I will be more than happy to share my colours with him just so he doesn't feel left out and he can join the rest of us. 

[00:24:29] Adam Cox: I see, he's making a statement, he's making a point.

[00:24:31] Kyle Risi: He is making the point. Sadly, Anish obviously doesn't respond to any of this. So believing that he hadn't learned his lesson, Stuart decides to pull together a bunch of people, including various color labs around the world, to create even more paint colors that would continue to be made available to everyone in the world except for Anish Kapoor.

[00:24:48] The first additional color he comes up with is the world's glitteriest glitter, which is the direct opposite of Vantablack. 

[00:24:56] Adam Cox: Yeah, because that one's, you can't see anything and this one. So much light. [00:25:00] Yeah. 

[00:25:00] Kyle Risi: Shooter's like, well, if you can't have access to the least reflective substance in the world, then we will make sure that he can't have access to the most reflective substance in the world. He calls it diamond dust, but it has one very important property. It uses millions and millions of tiny shards of pearlescent kind of glass, meaning that this time, if Anish Kapoor does decide to dip his finger into diamond dust, the pot of paint, then he's going to need some serious medical attention.

[00:25:27] Adam Cox: So this is actually quite a hazard then. 

[00:25:30] Kyle Risi: Yeah, He's getting a bit aggressive. Okay. Again, this paint is only obviously available to the whole world to buy. But just like before, you had to first declare that you were not Anish Kapoor, and so throughout all of this tit for tat, and the immediate attention it starts to garner, Stuart starts building up a really strong community of artists and scientists that all decide to come together with a plan of creating an alternative to Vantablack. 

[00:25:53] Adam Cox: So they're going to make their own black? 

[00:25:56] Kyle Risi: He's going to make his own blackest black in the world. 

[00:25:59] Adam Cox: So how [00:26:00] black is the other one? Like 99%? 

[00:26:01] Kyle Risi: 99. 96%. Now this is Stuart Semple. He is just a multi kind of functional artist. He has recruited some of these kind of volunteers to come together to try and rival a pigment that is even blacker than Vantablack, which has cost millions and millions of dollars, been funded by the military, and is used on watches that go upwards of 50, 000.

[00:26:25] Adam Cox: Because Anish Kapoor didn't even invent this colour, so, and he's got obviously quite a lot of money. So how is Stuart Semple going to do this? And how do you get better than 99. 96, you say? 99. 96%. So he's got to get to 99. 97%. 

[00:26:40] Kyle Risi: Yep. 

[00:26:41] Adam Cox: Feels like a lot of work. 

[00:26:42] Kyle Risi: It is going to be a lot of work. Surprisingly, yes, they also do this with a far smaller budget, and much smaller team than the people behind Vantablack.

[00:26:50] But they do come up with a paint called Better Black, and it didn't quite absorb as much light as Vanta Black, but it was pretty damn close to soaking up [00:27:00] 98% of visible light. But on top of that, unlike Vanta Black, it didn't have to be applied by a qualifier technician or in a special lab under very specific conditions. It was flammable. In fact, it wasn't dangerous at all. Unlike, of course, Vanta Black, which costs thousands per millimeter better. Black was like. 10 per hundred metres. Yeah. And it smelled of black cherries. 

[00:27:23] Adam Cox: So you can skimp on a percentage or so in order for like this mass market product. 

[00:27:28] Kyle Risi: I mean, commercially, yeah, it's viable. It's like, it's, it's, it's almost as good as Vantablack. 98%. I think that's pretty good. And when you see videos of him using it, it does almost render anything that is applied to, to completely flat. 

[00:27:41] Adam Cox: And you can buy this now? 

[00:27:42] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:27:42] Adam Cox: Oh. 

[00:27:43] Kyle Risi: On his website, culturehustle. com.

[00:27:45] And that's what I think is really clever, is that everything that he is doing is both a protest and a work of performance art all in itself. It's extremely effective. It's a protest and it's a show all in one. It's very, very clever.

[00:27:58] But the whole thing just reminds me of that [00:28:00] episode of Friends where Monica inherits that kind of antique dollhouse from her aunt and it's very expensive, very fancy, nobody's allowed to play with it. So Phoebe decides to go off and make her own doll's house out of like cardboard and like cereal boxes and stuff. And just everyone wants to play with Phoebe's dollhouse. And then Monica's just left kind of playing on her own.

[00:28:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, Phoebe's house was more fun. The aroma room, the licorice room. Mhm. That's all I can remember. 

[00:28:22] Kyle Risi: The foster puppets tragically died in the fire. Oh, yeah, that's right. 

[00:28:26] Adam Cox: Wasn't there a T Rex and a ghost? 

[00:28:27] Kyle Risi: Yeah, every house needs a ghost. 

[00:28:29] Adam Cox: Yeah. So based on what you've said about Anish Kapoor in terms of the type of person he is, he's obviously quite petty. What he must have come back with a some kind of remark or like come back 

[00:28:39] Kyle Risi: Well, he doesn't really come back with a remark I think at this point Anish tells Emilia that he is going to be suing Stuart Semple Because of course he's using his name to draw attention to his own work and try and sell his own products.

[00:28:50] So his lawyers draw up a really threatening press release. But it was all just peacocking because Stuart was never actually served with those papers. Basically this was just Anish Kapoor running to the principal to [00:29:00] tattletale on Stuart and that's how everyone was just being mean to him. 

[00:29:03] But ultimately nothing really comes from it. And I think it's because Stuart's Better Black wasn't really making a profit. Like he was only really covering the costs to actually produce the paint itself.

[00:29:15] So Anish's lawyers just said to him like, I don't really think you have much of a case so he never really ended up filing the lawsuit. 

[00:29:21] Adam Cox: Yeah it's a different product and he's not like he's going after, I mean they're not calling it the Black is Black are they?

[00:29:27] Nope. So yeah that's just pure competition.

[00:29:30] Kyle Risi: But none of this matters anyway, because following this, Anish does kind of get his own back in a way. Surrey Nanosystems announces that they've created Vantablack 2. 0, which is even blacker than the previous Vantablack. Still only available to Anish, who I can just imagine painting with it Then a hole just opens up and swallows him into another dimension. 

[00:29:51] So Stuart is like this will not do so He reconvenes his team of artists and scientists who all come back together to announce that they have successfully [00:30:00] developed their own 2. 0 version of Better Black which again was even blacker than Better Black. It was cheaper and again available to everyone except for Anish Kapoor. 

[00:30:09] So it's around about this time that everything just goes quiet on both sides. Anish is not really responding to the antagonism. And so as you know, it's no fun when the person that you're trying to get at just rises above it all. 

[00:30:22] So Stuart just takes a backseat for now. 

[00:30:25] That was until Anish decided that he wanted to put an extra floor on top of his studio in London to give himself a bit more space and more access to light.

[00:30:34] Which is semi ironic since it was all more about kind of like less light with Vans of but like an idiot, he doesn't actually communicate his plans for his studio with the local community in Camberwell. So when they find out that his plans were approved by the council, they're all livid. Because his changes to his studio meant that a lot of his neighbours would essentially have their views totally blocked out and a lot more of the natural light taken away.

[00:30:58] He's literally Mr Burns from [00:31:00] The Simpsons when he tries to block out the sun around Springfield with that giant light shade essentially. He's a villain!

[00:31:06] Then some of his neighbours get together and they consult a hero, Stuart Simple. And together they start a change. org petition titled, Stop Anish Kapoor stealing our light and our colour. He rallies up the community of Anish Kapoor kind of haters. Word spreads and the petition gets like 2, 000 signatures. So not a huge amount, but enough for the council to take notice. 

[00:31:28] Sadly, despite this and the objections, the extension was still kind of approved on the provision that they make a few minor modifications, including adding a green wall and making sure like that the roof wasn't limited to access from the other residents. So the outcome was fairly disappointing.

[00:31:45] So in response, Stuart reassembles his team. They come up with two more products that highlight how Anisha's privilege and wealth have changed. Was able to get around kind of the the council's approval process.

[00:31:58] One was a hypercolor that reacts to [00:32:00] different heat and light in different ways. The other was like an oil slick rainbow paint that when painted on better black looks like oil floating on water. So it's kind of really cool. 

[00:32:10] He also starts releasing merch like an artist license card, a bit like a driver's license, which is an official license to silence anyone attempting to shut down your creativity, essentially.

[00:32:21] The purpose of it was like, it's 25, any of the proceeds go to Stuart Semple and his team to make even more kind of awesome products and drive more awareness to what people like Anish Kapoor was pretty much doing.

[00:32:33] Off the back of this popularity, they add loads of really cool products. They add the yellows, yellow, the silvers silver, a really cool kind of holographic and UV paint. But one of my favorites is this hydrophobic spray, which lets you stencil on concrete. So you spray the hydrophobic solution over a sensor, and when it rains the concrete around it goes all dark.

[00:32:55] But the bit that you sprayed with the hydrophobic solution stays completely dry. So you [00:33:00] can create these really cool anti graffiti statements on sidewalks and on on sides of buildings 

[00:33:06] Adam Cox: without actually damaging or anything too permanent. I'm guessing. Exactly. And then 

[00:33:10] Kyle Risi: over time, it will just wash away. So it's really cool and it's really cheap. And I've always heard about those types of things, but they've always been really expensive. But now Stuart Semple and his team are finding ways to bring these to the masses. 

[00:33:22] Adam Cox: Yeah, making it more affordable for any artist to do any kind of work and put it up for display.

[00:33:28] Kyle Risi: Exactly. And with the hydrophobic paint, most people are using it for kind of activist messages all over the city. So when it rains, you see the message and it's just really cool. But eventually, Stuart has over 100 different paints, powders and gifts on his website culturehustle. com which you can easily lose like an hour or two just looking through all the different cool kind of products that he's got. He includes loads of like tutorials and how to use them and apply the medium. Really, really cool stuff. And best of all, it's all ethically sourced, it's all sustainable and the small amount [00:34:00] of profit that they do make all goes towards supporting Stuart Semple for the good fight against Anish 

[00:34:06] But the thing is Like, this battle doesn't just stop with Anish Kapoor, eventually he does start going after other artists who are trying to pull kind of similar shit, at one point he makes the goldest gold in protest to a guy called Daniel Smith who's hoarding kind of a very specific kind of gold pigment. Again, he releases that particular paint to everyone in the world except for Daniel and Anish Kapoor.

[00:34:27] Adam Cox: Does he have like all the colors now then? It feels like he's made a point about everyone that's done anything with any color. 

[00:34:33] Kyle Risi: Essentially. Yes.

[00:34:35] But then, after a few years of trying, Stewart's team finally have a breakthrough and they actually managed to make a paint that was actually blacker than Vantablack, which he calls Black 4. 0. So there was a 3. 0, but now he's got 4. 0. It's the blackest paint in the known universe, literally. And now the paint is for sale. It retails pounds for 150 mils. So [00:35:00] that's quite expensive. 

[00:35:00] Adam Cox: Yeah, 

[00:35:01] Kyle Risi: but still way less than what Vantablack 2. 0 costs. And again, just like before it's available to everyone in the world, except for 

[00:35:09] Adam Cox: Anish kapoor.

[00:35:11] Kyle Risi: So how, what's the, absorption rate on this one then? I don't know what it is, but it's definitely higher than Vantablack 2. 0. 

[00:35:18] Adam Cox: Can you get 100%? What would that be? I think that's a black hole. 

[00:35:22] You get sucked in. So

[00:35:24] eventually as time passes on, he's feeling a bit bad for picking on Anish Kapoor. So he's okay, we're going to let you play with us. And he decides to release a collection of paints that are available to all artists, including the miserable ones. So that they can add a bit more color into their own lives.

[00:35:39] So now finally Anish is now allowed to purchase one of a small collection of products on his website. 

[00:35:45] What are they called? Like, not quite the pinkest pink, sort of the bluest blue. 

[00:35:48] Kyle Risi: Anishpoo, Anishpoo, Anish, Anish, Anish Kapoor pink. 

[00:35:52] Adam Cox: Anish Kapoor pink, not the best pink is the tagline. 

[00:35:57] Kyle Risi: So the thing is though, he's just [00:36:00] antagonizing Anish Kapoor every step along the way. Like he's just so perfectly childish and petty. I really love it. I love it. 

[00:36:07] So in 2019, Stuart decides that he is actually going to open up his own physical shop, a proper bricks and mortar shop in Mayfair called Art Shop which also doubles as like a concept space where people can come and explore colours in his collection.

[00:36:22] Adam Cox: And is Anish Kapoor allowed in that shop? 

[00:36:24] Kyle Risi: No, he is not. So now you have Anish Kapoor sitting at home with his stupid black paint while everyone gets to come and play at the art shop. And I imagine he's just like humping at everyone who's walking past. I hate this. 

[00:36:36] Of course, as you just alluded to, Anish Kapoor is not allowed in because Stuart hires a bouncer to guard the front door with a laminated photograph of Anish Kapoor's face with a big red line going through it. And he makes everyone sign a declaration when they enter the store to say that they are not Anish Kapoor, they are not associated with Anish Kapoor, they are not planning on sharing any of the products with Anish Kapoor. They are no way going to have anything to do with [00:37:00] Anish Kapoor. 

[00:37:01] And so since 2016, Stuart's entire brand has morphed into this. Activist Artists Guild taking the stance of bringing all this awareness against these exclusivity attempts of artists in the industry. 

[00:37:14] Adam Cox: But are they both just helping each other's popularity it feels like? Probably, like 

[00:37:19] Kyle Risi: obviously he's found like a little kind of a niche, well he's found a little niche where he's able to capitalize on. 

[00:37:26] Adam Cox: Yeah, and I'm just thinking, he's talking about Anish Kapoor a lot. People are gonna go oh, who was Anish Kapoor? Oh, he did The Bean and all this other sort of stuff. And then same way with Anish Kapoor drawing attention to Stuart Semple, who probably wouldn't be anywhere, um, as well known in comparison, based on 

[00:37:44] Kyle Risi: I know exactly what you're saying, yeah. And I completely agree, yeah. There's some kind of mutual benefit there, right? Anish Kapoor is now on the radar to a bunch of people who are interested in art on Stuart's side of the art [00:38:00] spectrum, right?

[00:38:00] Over the years he continues producing more and more paints that other artists are trying to make exclusive. Around 2020 when everything just shut down during COVID.

[00:38:09] He learns that a lab was trying to come up with the whitest white paint that's ever existed. So when everyone is just stuck at home, his team seizes this opportunity to see if they can kind of beat everyone to it. And he takes inspiration from what they call like a ghost beetle. Its shell is considered the whitest substance on the planet in the way that it reflects and refracts light.

[00:38:29] And Adam, they do it. It's since gone through two formulations with 2. 0 being the latest version. And it is a really super white paint that you can now buy on his website. And they beat these big, huge labs with these millions and millions of dollars and these huge research teams behind them to producing the whitest white paint that's ever existed.

[00:38:49] How are they able to do that? It's just incredible. Yeah. Exactly. Like I said, they used inspiration from this ghost beetle, which is really, really white. It is super white when you see this beetle. 

[00:38:58] And like we touched upon [00:39:00] earlier, because he calls his followers participants, he has opened up the entire design and creation and testing process to anyone who wants to help. And you can physically go and register to be sent different samples of the paints and provide feedback. And ultimately, this is how he is able to work with you. So quickly in a space ahead of all these huge research labs. 

[00:39:20] Once again, to participate, you just need to confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor and that you are in no way involved or affiliated with Anish Kapoor.

[00:39:28] But once that checkbox is signed, it's a hefty disclaimer, but once you get through that, you are in the club. 

[00:39:34] Adam Cox: Is there any way that Say if, I knew Anish Kapoor and I bought some paint on behalf of Anish Kapoor, so I've lied, I've checked that box. Can I be, like, prosecuted?

[00:39:45] Kyle Risi: I don't see why not. You've gone against a private entity's terms and conditions. So why not? 

[00:39:50] Adam Cox: So they would get a lawyer. onto me. 

[00:39:52] Kyle Risi: He probably wouldn't, but he could. He could if he wanted to. 

[00:39:57] Adam Cox: That's the thing. I guess by keep doing that, it just [00:40:00] helps with the message of this pain.

[00:40:01] Kyle Risi: It's all activism, basically. And the thing is, though, he has done this with a bunch of different companies. He's also barred M3, DuPont, and T Mobile from buying any of his products too, because they've all been guilty of similar crimes. T Mobile, they tried to sue another company for using their famous color magenta.

[00:40:20] Uh, M3 will sue anyone who tries to use their canary yellow, which is obviously the color of their post it notes. And so in Stuart Semple's books, they are all criminals and they've made it onto his list. 

[00:40:32] Adam Cox: It's weird because the canary yellow that you just said, it's not even that nice a yellow. No. I wouldn't even, I wouldn't want to copy that. 

[00:40:40] Kyle Risi: But it's not, but it's not about it being nice or not, right? It's about it's been a specific colour that they've trademarked as part of their brand, right? 

[00:40:48] Adam Cox: I agree, it's just, I don't know if I'd ever think, oh, this color is so good, we don't want anyone else using this.

[00:40:54] And you, 

[00:40:54] Kyle Risi: you would, exactly, and also if you did use it, it would be inadvertently, right? You would just go, oh, I need a yellow, oh, there's a yellow there, I'll [00:41:00] use that. No one would consciously go, that's a really nice yellow. 

[00:41:02] Adam Cox: Yeah, exactly. I would have never picked out that yellow, or that pink from T Mobile.

[00:41:07] Yeah. 

[00:41:08] Kyle Risi: These companies are litigious, man, these big brands.

[00:41:11] And Adam, the fight is far from over. It's still continuing today. Stuart will just not let this drop. The latest act of retaliation was recently in October 2024, when Stuart Semple legally changed his name to Anish Kapoor as a symbolic way of saying that if Ante Black is only reserved for Anish Kapoor, then changing your name will afford you that same privilege.

[00:41:34] Adam Cox: But hang on, but then he can't now buy paint from his website. Yes, Stuart! 

[00:41:38] Kyle Risi: So he's just done that and went, oh wait. But then a month after that, in November this year, Stuart then released a limited edition print titled, I'm not a niche man. I'm a niche man. 

[00:41:50] It's signed a capal. And to rub salt in the wounds, the entire thing is made using black 4.0, which is literally the, the blackest black. The [00:42:00] blackest black in the world. And he's literally making art out of taking the piss, which of course I just differ for.

[00:42:06] Adam Cox: It's interesting, I wonder what Anish thinks now, okay, he's changed his name, I'd almost be like, are you still trying to like, peddle this? I'm like, I'm working on my new bean, Bean 2. 0. 

[00:42:16] Kyle Risi: I mean, if he didn't have a case for taking litigious action before, he probably has a case now because Stuart Semple temporarily changed his name to Anish Kapoor. Yeah. I wonder if it was in collaboration with Anish. I'm sure he must have gotten permission. 

[00:42:28] Adam Cox: Do you think they're like Coca Cola and Pepsi, where they actually work together on things?

[00:42:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah, possibly. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. It mutually benefits them both, as we described earlier on, right? Yeah. And Adam, that is the story as it stands today between Stuart Semple and Anish Kapoor, the pettiest feud in the art world. 

[00:42:45] Adam Cox: Wow. I really want to see this black. Considering it's called such a hoo ha, I want to see all these versions of black and go like, 

[00:42:52] Kyle Risi: It is pretty impressive. I did consider buying some black 4. 0. A is quite expensive and I was actually going to paint Stephanie [00:43:00] completely black. So we have a big giant, what even is it? Like a cow skull, a bull skull?

[00:43:08] Hanging in our living rooms, doesn't have any horns and it's currently painted in like in a midnight black with like roses on the top of it, like a rose crown. And I thought, wouldn't that be cool if I painted that in black 4. 0? We'll be able to see it. Exactly. That's the reason why I thought it's quite expensive and actually you wouldn't be able to see what it would just look like a big black silhouette on the wall.

[00:43:29] Yeah. But yeah, 

[00:43:31] Adam Cox: interesting, interesting. It 

[00:43:33] Kyle Risi: is pretty cool. There's loads of tutorials that you can go and see on YouTube or people using it and what it looks like. It does render it completely. flat. It's really bizarre, especially when you take a three dimensional object and you paint it, it just looks like a flat piece of paper.

[00:43:48] Adam Cox: And I guess it needs that warning, do not paint a hole or a well in this. 

[00:43:53] Kyle Risi: Do not paint a hole. Yeah. So if you want to find out more about Stuart Semple and Anish Kapoor, of course, they are both on [00:44:00] Instagram where you can get updates on all Stuart Semple's projects and the products that his team have recently released.

[00:44:06] And Anish Kapoor's. Instagram handle is Dirty Corner where you can go and actually marvel at that infamous pink finger dipped into Stuart Semple's paint which just ended up antagonizing Stuart and escalating this all into the feud that it had become today. Also Stuart has a YouTube channel Which offers a platform for him to share his insights, tutorials, and artistic kind of philosophies in the art world.

[00:44:29] He also showcases some of the incredible materials that he's brought to the market or completely accessible by everyone. But like I said, the story is far from over, but I am looking forward to what he's going to do next. I do hope that he does take him to court, Anish Kapoor. I know I shouldn't be rooting for Anish, but come on. Take him to court, see what he does. 

[00:44:49] Adam Cox: Maybe gone a step too far, but we'll see. 

[00:44:51] Kyle Risi: But I reckon that Stuart Sepp will probably be able to retaliate in the best way possible if he does. 

[00:44:56] Adam Cox: With Black 5. 0? I don't know, he'll probably just do something really [00:45:00] ridiculous. It's like, he's like, version 10 and he's just like, all right, I don't care about black anymore.

[00:45:06] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I sold that years ago. Yeah. I'm on to like white now. Yeah. Cool. So should we run the outro? Let's do it. 

[00:45:12] And that wraps up another journey into the fascinating and intriguing On the Commendium. If today's episode tickled your curiosity, then don't forget to hit that follow button on your favorite podcasting app, it really makes a world of difference when you do.

[00:45:24] And for our die hard listeners, next week's episode is waiting for you right on our Patreon and it's completely free. 

[00:45:31] If you are hungry for more then you can join our Certified Freaks tier to unlock our entire archive of unreleased episodes and see what we're working on next. We'd love you to come and join our growing community.

[00:45:44] Next week's episode drops every Tuesday. And until then, remember, sometimes the brightest colors come from the pettiest feuds. Keep your creativity inclusive. 

[00:45:53] See you next time. 

[00:45:54] Adam Cox: See ya. [00:46:00]