Who’s the narc that gave him the pink

December 26, 2016 11:02 AM

"The Anish Kapoor / Stuart Semple pigment war is simultaneously modern art's greatest and pettyest feud"

via

posted by griphus (34 comments total)

shit just got real
posted by SansPoint at 11:06 AM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

Kapoor's monopoly of the world's blackest black is a clear infringement of my sincere religious beliefs.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:10 AM on December 26, 2016 [13 favorites]

You left out "...as told on tumblr in the least coherent fashion possible."

Halfway through, I dismissed the whole story as a pigment of my imagination.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:11 AM on December 26, 2016 [18 favorites]

I hope that really isn't Vantablack on his fingers in that response video because the MSDS for it is fucking terrifying.
posted by Talez at 11:12 AM on December 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

The MSDS is not surprising, given that it's a fine powder. Anything that fine can cause respiratory issues if inhaled.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 11:17 AM on December 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

welp, time to amble over to archiveofourown.org
posted by Countess Elena at 11:18 AM on December 26, 2016 [14 favorites]

Yeah, the MSDS seemed pretty standard to me, mostly don't know what happens but if does something happens talk to a doctor.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:20 AM on December 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

For reference you can compare to the MSDS of gasoline
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:22 AM on December 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

To be fair, all MSDSs are terrifying unless you are braced for their eldritch knowledge. That stuff you use at work? Toxic. That stuff you use at home? Toxic. Best just wear a hazmat suit at all times.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:25 AM on December 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

Carbon nanotubes are as unhealthy as asbestos.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:35 AM on December 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

Semple has also invented the world's most glittery glitter, which Anish Kapoor is also banned from using.
posted by LindsayIrene at 11:47 AM on December 26, 2016 [13 favorites]

welp, time to amble over to archiveofourown.org

"I was shocked that he mixed his deep black - the deepest darkest black - into my pink. My purest, pinkest possible pink. What surprised me even more was how good it felt..."
posted by idiopath at 11:49 AM on December 26, 2016 [21 favorites]

Finally, something to care about.
posted by Slinga at 12:04 PM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is all just a really weird lead-in to a Hart Foundation return at the Royal Rumble.
posted by Etrigan at 12:08 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Go a little deeper with Anish Kapoor...
posted by artof.mulata at 12:13 PM on December 26, 2016

I find this stuff absolutely hilarious. Kapoor is an ass for starting it all, though.
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:28 PM on December 26, 2016

Faint of Butt: "Kapoor's monopoly of the world's blackest black is a clear infringement of my sincere religious beliefs."

But it is SO METAL!
posted by Samizdata at 12:46 PM on December 26, 2016

Sooner or later someone will invent a pigment blacker than Vantablack; I hope they license it freely and Kapoor is stuck with exclusive use of the world's second blackest black.
posted by TedW at 12:46 PM on December 26, 2016 [14 favorites]

Anish Kapoor is amazing, if anybody gets an exclusive, it should be him.

Besides, such an exclusive could be easily circumvented, I'd guess. "I don't make art, I make anti-art." Or meta-art, or art-critical objects, or sub-art, or supra-art, or whatever. Plain old "art" is an anachronism.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:55 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

petty feuds are the best feuds.
posted by ckape at 1:21 PM on December 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

I find this stuff absolutely hilarious. Kapoor is an ass for starting it all, though.


Previously, in contemporary art history.
posted by The River Ivel at 1:27 PM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

petty feuds are the best feuds.

Except for the feud between Lori Petty and Tom Petty. That feud has claimed countless lives.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:55 PM on December 26, 2016 [15 favorites]

I told my husband this story and he said "well, at least it keeps them off the streets."
posted by KathrynT at 3:07 PM on December 26, 2016 [20 favorites]

This "dispute" rivals academic politics on the "stakes are so low" axis.
posted by The Tensor at 3:28 PM on December 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

Anish Kapoor has great artistic talent. He is also an asshole, at least with respect to the proprietary nature of things, in particular requiring a permit for photographing a public work of art in Chicago (now mostly no longer the case).

Yes, he can probably do something artistically great with Vantablack. There are however, any number of great artistic things that could be done with it. And these would come from different talents of different artists. So fuck him for throttling art.

I wonder what past masters of the dark, (Caravaggio, Manet ... Motherwell) might have done with Vantablack.
posted by allelopath at 4:01 PM on December 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

Anish Kapoor is an alpha-male, i.e., one oriented around asserting dominance, i.e., an asshole. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

If Martin Shkreli was involved in fine arts, he'd be Anish Kapoor.
posted by acb at 4:55 PM on December 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

One is inclined to wonder if he doesn't simply fear that the results of other artists using the vantablack. If he wanted to make an artistic statement about exclusivity and transience, I can think of several works that accomplished the same thing without denying other artists the chance to riff off, rip off, transform, create a dialogue with, and/or simply be inspired by their content and methods. This screams of "but if other people can use my shiny new toy, I'll have to be CREATIVE with it! It won't be special just on its own!"

...apparently I have strong feelings on this, the pettiest of subjects.
posted by a power-tie-wearing she-capitalist at 6:28 PM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

@power-tie-wearing-she-capitalist: Me too apparently.
posted by allelopath at 7:07 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had no idea about all of this, and knowing about it has made my day. Thank you!
posted by une_heure_pleine at 7:31 PM on December 26, 2016

Kapoor is an ass.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:07 PM on December 26, 2016

just to be clear, the ao3 screencap is purposefully fake. tht fic still doesn't exist, last i checked. but there's still time to salvage 2016!
posted by cendawanita at 9:32 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

GenjiandProust: "petty feuds are the best feuds.

Except for the feud between Lori Petty and Tom Petty. That feud has claimed countless lives."

Of course. Tom only has Heartbreakers. Lori has a tank.
posted by Samizdata at 10:55 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Stu in the pink, Anish in the stink.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:51 AM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

modern art's greatest and pettyest feud...

Type, oh, or not ?
posted by y2karl at 7:54 AM on December 27, 2016