Anish Kapoor made the news again. Though this time not for the eyesore - sinkhole big red roller coaster thing, this time he has 'acquired' (read: no one wants to ask how much he paid for it) exclusive rights to a colour fabrication process. (This did actually happen a few years ago, apparently.)
I'm not going to speak about how distraught I am at how I won't be able to use this great colour like so many other middling reactionaries have been so quick to proclaim. It's so unfair! /s
No, what I want to talk about is how suddenly we can catch a glimpse of something which is rare and mercurial to the public. The artists motive.
Kapoor 's motive is so transparent in this action, it can only be suggested that it was a mistake. Indeed it seems that the company that fabricates the material (it is not paint as we know it) offered up the information first. Write your own contracts Anish!!!!
So what is his motive? Interestingly, this move puts a few things in perspective in response to his work. Excuse the bold leaps of logic. His main priority is the commercial viability of his product (read:artwork). This is relatively similar to Yves Klein and his blue, though it feels a lot different, an early career artist trying to make something and a late career artist dabbling.
This is something very important, that he is interested in art after commercialism.
Now if your motive changes so does the result. He isn't making artwork anymore. He is a commercial enterprise.
Whether art should be encouraged to be a commercial enterprise is another story...
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2016/feb/29/anish-kapoor-vantablack-paint
