Sculptor buys exclusive rights to the blackest black ever created, angering fellow artists
Sculptor Anish Kapoor has sparked debate in Britain by buying the exclusive right to use a pigment said to be the blackest ever, to the fury of others in the artistic community.
Kapoor, whose huge works of public art are landmarks in cities from London to Chicago, has snapped up the rights to Vantablack, a coating which absorbs 99.96 per cent of light rendering three dimensional objects to appear as little more than silhouettes from any angle, even in bright light.
The move has drawn some criticism in Britain’s artistic community.
Christian Furr, a portraitist who had planned to use Vantablack in a series of paintings, told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “We should be able to use it. It isn’t right that it belongs to one man.”
The Guardian newspaper ran a story headlined: “Can an artist ever really own a colour?”
