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The World has Another Blackest Black: British Artist Stuart Semple Launches ‘Black 3.0’
B
lack 3.0 is a super-flat, ultra-matte
by Surrey NanoSystems that holds the
However, Kapoor managed to get a tube
black that absorbs 98-99% of light
world record as the darkest man-made
of the product, dipping his middle finger in
and, contrary to Vantablack, anyone
substance), Black 3.0 is available to
it and flipping the bird to Semple the other
can purchase it – anyone but Anish Kapoor.
anyone, including private individuals –
protesting artists on Instagram.
After two years of development, artist Stuart
except artist Anish Kapoor. In fact, the
This is what brought up the decision to team
Semple claims that his team – made of artists
new paint is part of a long-running feud
up with other artists to develop a competitor
and paint makers based in Dorset, England –
between the two artists, dating back
to Vantablack.
has created the “blackest black paint
to 2016, when Kapoor licensed the
“We think that sharing your colours with
in the world”.
exclusive rights to Vantablack for artistic
others is nice! When Stuart heard that
“We wanted a super-flat, ultra-matte black
use, forbidding other artists to use the
Kapoor was the only artist that could use
that absorbed almost all visible light”,
pigment, which was originally developed
the blackest black, he felt sad but also a
explains Stuart Semple on the Kickstarter
for satellite and scientific applications.
bit bad that he’d been making awesome
page dedicated to this project. “To achieve
The art community heavily criticized
colours and only using them in his own
that we went right back to the basics of paint
Kapoor and Semple even developed
work. So, he started sharing his colour
making. The problem with existing black
and released what he claimed was the
creations on the internet with other artists”,
pigments is they are all slightly reflective,
world’s pinkest pink paint and made
the team stated.
so we created a whole new pigment in the
it commercially available to everyone
They also added: “Other super blacks
lab and we call it ‹Black Magick’, it is born
except Kapoor.
are complicated to use and extremely © Culture Hustle
matte! […] We’ve also managed to formulate a new acrylic polymer to hold the pigment, it›s special because it has more
expensive. Most require heat, science labs and specialist training to apply. We wanted to make a
available bonds than any other
super affordable,
acrylic polymer being used in
easy to use paint that was
paints. This means it can cling
familiar to artists so they
onto way more pigment, leading
could concentrate on
to a really dense pigment load
expressing themselves.
and a depth of colour not
We’ve been on a mission to
previously possible. We have
create exactly that for a long
sourced some brand new
while because we want all
nano-mattifiers which we have
artists to be able to express
added, these flatten out the
themselves with awesome
last bits of stray light without
materials. The limits of your
compromising colour”.
creations should be your
Easy to use, affordable and available to anyone Contrary to Vantablack (the super-black coating developed
imagination not how rich or successful you are”. 1 Figure 1: Black 3.0 brush applied to sculpture.
For further information: www.culturehustle.com
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