Stuart SempleBritish artist famous for his mission of democratization of artchallenged not only the boundaries of art but also the monopoly on colours imposed by big brands and companies. His personal crusade against color appropriation began with a confrontation with Anish Kapoor.
The famous Anglo-Indian artist purchased the exclusive rights to the Vantablacka ultra-black pigment capable of absorbing 99.96% of visible light. Semple, against this exclusivity, responded by creating the “Pinkest Pink,” a bright pink accessible to everyone except Kapoor, accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek statement forbidding his rival from purchasing it.
Over the years, Semple has continued to develop innovative pigments, including “Black 4.0”, one ultra matt paint created to surpass Vantablack. At the same time, he challenged other color monopolies with creations such as “Pinkie – The Barbiest Pink”, against Mattel’s attempt to monopolize Barbie pink, and “Tiff”, a turquoise similar to Tiffany blue, to protest against the appropriation of iconic colors by brands.
It made “Freetones” available after Pantones are paid
Semple’s battle recently extended to the digital world with the Pantone case. In 2022, Pantone announced a controversial decision: make for a fee accessing its colors in Adobe applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
This change sparked outrage among artists, who found themselves forced to pay an additional subscription to use shades that had been free for years. Semple, a longtime advocate for accessibility, called the move an act of “color seizure” and quickly created an alternative: “Freetone”, a collection of 1,280 colors similar to those of Pantone, available for free as a plug-in for Adobe software.
The initiative was a huge success, with over 22,000 downloads in the first days of launch. Semple explained that the goal was not only to offer a practical solution, but also to protest the growing tendency to commodify color.
“Color is a universal experience”, he stated, “and no one should own it or restrict its use”. And so, following this belief and with his initiatives, Semple continues to challenge monopolies and defend creative freedom, demonstrating that color is not just an aesthetic element, but a everyone’s right.
