From Klein to Kapoor: Artists and Private Individuals’ Rights to Colors.

Anish Kapoor recently announced that he has acquired the exclusive rights to use Vantablack, a special black pigment so dark that it absorbs 99.96% of light. 

Vantablack is a substance produced by Surrey Nano Systems, developed and patented by NASA for military purposes to help camouflage satellites.  The paint is characterized by its ability to absorb light to such an extent that it prevents the human eye from detecting the kind of shadows that help the brain interpret the shape of an object: a crumpled piece of aluminum foil covered with a layer of paint appears almost completely flat.

Kapoor began experimenting with Vantablack some time ago, reaching out to the British company Surrey Nano Systems, the first to be able to mass-produce the pigment. 

However, this is not the first time an artist has claimed a unique connection to a particular color. In 1960, French artist Yves Klein patented International Klein Blue (IKB), a specific shade of blue that he had developed with a Parisian paint manufacturer and used in a series of monochrome paintings. Klein died in 1962, but IKB continues to exist and is still used today.

 If one were to look at it negatively, the exclusive rights could be a marketing strategy by Surrey Nano Systems: linking its material to one of the greatest contemporary artists. Or perhaps it is a revival of a phenomenon already seen throughout history, one that ties the use of color almost inextricably to the artist’s financial resources.