The paint, called Vantablack S-VIS, is made from tubes grown on a substrate. The company who created it, licensed it exclusively to modern artist Anish Kapoor, meaning that only he can use the “blackest black” paint. And that should have been the end of the story.
After learning of this exclusive deal, some members of the art world were outraged, insisting that everyone should have access to the paint. One artist in particular, London’s Stuart Semple, was especially upset.
Semple had a history of mixing and selling his own paints, and once he learned of Kapoor’s paint color monopoly, he was furious. Semple created a GoFundMe to create the “pinkest pink ever” and successfully raised enough money to create it, vowing that it would be available for everyone to buy, except for Kapoor.