Anish Kapoor & the Blackest Black in the Universe in Venice, Italy at the Accademia & Palazzo Manfrin + Gillo Dorfles at the Cini

Anish Kapoor & Taco Dibbets at Gallerie dell'Accademia 

Background painting: Madonna of the Treasuers by Tintoretto (1567) 

Photo: Cat Bauer

 

(Venice, Italy) "I'm going to ask Anish Kapoor why he's got exclusive rights to the blackest black in the universe and why he won't let other artists use the color," I said to some colleagues over at the Giorgio Cini Foundation. 

On the morning of Friday, November 12, we were at the Cini for the inauguration of Ghiribizzi  or "Whims," an exhibition of fanciful drawings with clever titles that Gillo Dorfles, the Italian art critic, painter and philosopher, sketched in 2018, just months before his death at age 107. They reminded me of John Lennon's drawings. 

The conversation took place in the impressive Nuova Manica Lunga, designed by the architect Michele De Lucchi. About a decade ago, De Lucchi had transformed the ancient dormitory of the Benedictine monks into a very cool contemporary library. The exhibition is in a small room, Sala Barbantini, off to the right, and will run through January 31, 2022.

Vitriol by Gillo Dorfles over the fireplace. - Photo: Cat Bauer

We all vaguely knew the story about how Anish Kapoor had scored the blackest black color, and the resounding tumult from the art world. Kapoor had signed an exclusive deal with the inventor of Vantablack, "the blackest material in the universe," granting him the right to be the only artist allowed to use it. This caused chaos in the art world. Other artists were outraged that an artist would dare to own a color -- especially pure black -- and attacked Kapoor on social media. 

The artist Stuart Semple led the onslaught. He coined the Instagram hashtag #sharetheblack and created his own exclusive color, Pinkest Pink, which he sold on his website for £3.99 to anyone except Anish Kapoor with the following caveat: 

"You are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor."

Kapoor responded with an Instagram image of his middle finger dipped in a jar of Pinkest Pink and the caption: "Up yours #pink."

I had been surprised at Kapoor's response, which seemed almost peevish. I thought he was supposed to be enlightened and above the fray. I told my colleagues I couldn't stay for refreshments. "I don't want to be late. I'll let you know what Kapoor says." 

Manica Lunga Library at the Giorgio Cini Foundation - Photo: Cat Bauer

I made my way out of the monumental Cini Foundation and across the Giudecca Canal to the Gallerie dell'Accademia, where the press conference was being held. 

 

The headline in the press notes, in English:

THE GREAT EXHIBITION THAT THE GALLERIES OF ACCADEMIA IN VENICE
DEDICATE TO THE MAESTRO ANISH KAPOOR
IT WILL ALSO BE ARTICULATED IN A SECOND VENUE, THE HISTORIC GALLERY OF PALAZZO MANFRIN 

Palazzo Manfrin - Photo by Wolfgang Moroder

 

The main reason for the press conference was to announce that not only would Kapoor be having an exhibition at the Accademia next year from April 20 to October 9, there would be a second venue: the historic Palazzo Manfrin in the Cannaregio district, which Kapoor had bought and is in the process of restoring to be the seat of his artistic foundation. 

And yes, the blackest black is coming to Venice. The exhibition will include ground-breaking new works created using carbon nanotechnology, which will be shown for the first time.

Carla Toffolo, Anish Kapoor, Giulio Manieri Elia, Taco Dibbits

Anish Kapoor is considered to be one of the most influential artists working today. Born in Mumbai, India in 1954, he now lives and works in London. His works are permanently exhibited in major museums and collections around the world.

After Giulio Manieri Elia, the Director of the Accademia kicked off the introductions, Taco Dibbits, the curator of the exhibition and distinguished Director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, started the conversation. Both Kapoor and Dibbits said they were perfectionists and after being forced to communicate using Zoom during the pandemic, they were glad they could be physically together in Venice. 

Dibbits asked Kapoor: "Why Venice and not Florence?" 

Kapoor replied (I am paraphrasing) that Florence is the City of Light and Venice is the City of Darkness. They call it Death in Venice, not Death in Florence. There is melancholy in this city. Titan's the Flaying of Marsyas is a dark, dangerous thing. It is not a work that depicts a scene, it is very contemporary -- it is a thing that is actually taking place.

This immediately struck a chord because one of the very first posts I wrote on this blog way back in January 2008 was about Titian's disturbing work of art:

Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting (L'ultimo Tiziano e la sensualità della pittura)

Flaying of Marsyas by Titian (c.1570-76)

Dibbits said that Kapoor's work always digs under the surface. Kapoor said that he sees himself as a sculptor who is a painter. 

It was a labyrinthine conversation about the relationship between pigment and thought and physical expression and how color makes a dreamy link between the physical and non-physical world. About how violence and beauty live right next to each other. They wondered where does God exist? And how Art gives a face to God. How human beings invented God and Art...

Kapoor said that Plato sat in the cave and looked out at the light -- that it was a masculine, forward observation -- while Freud looked at the back of the cave into the darkness, which was more feminine and inward. Kapoor said that artists must look into the darkness.

Anish Kapoor
Black Within Me, 2021 Oil on canvas
Photograph: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor. All rights reserved SIAE, 2021

It was one of the best press conferences we've had in years. Much of the credit for the ebb and flow must be given to the translator, the astonishing Carla Toffolo, who appeared to have a photographic memory and translated long, winding dialogues on complicated subjects effortlessly from English to Italian and back again. 

As the discussion delved deeper into esoteric topics, we slowly realized that Toffolo was some kind of genius. No one had ever seen anything like it. At one point Kapoor picked up Toffolo's notebook and showed it to all of us. There were just a few scribbled words. She had not only translated long paragraphs of Kapoor's philosophical meanderings seamlessly, but had captured the essence of his complex soul -- without notes! 

The Blackest Black

I finally had the opportunity to ask Kapoor about Vantablack, the blackest color in the universe, and how other artists were calling it "Kapoor Black," and why wouldn't he share it? Kapoor said that it was an inaccurate criticism -- that he must live with this criticism, but it is inaccurate. 

He said he was sitting in his studio reading the newspaper, and came across a little article about this dark material, Vantablack, a material that was created for military purposes and had no relation to art. It was blacker than a black hole and absorbed 99.8% of light. 

Kapoor wrote to the creator of the material, Ben Jensen. They have since been collaborating for about six or seven years to develop a way Kapoor could use the material in his art. It is not a paint that comes out of a tube. It is very technical and difficult to describe. 

Afterwards, I went up to him and said, just tell me how it feels to work with the black. He said, "You cannot touch it. It is too dangerous."

Anish Kapoor
The Dark, 2021 Oil on Canvas

Photograph: Dave Morgan
©Anish Kapoor. All rights reserved SIAE, 2021

I have since found a brilliant in-depth article written by Stuart McGurk for the August 2017 issue of GQ. It answers every question you want to know about the story of the blackest black in the universe, and how Kapoor got the exclusive right to use it. After reading the article, I understood completely why Kapoor had dipped his middle finger in the Pinkest Pink.

Like all good controversies, the Battle of the Blackest Black will raise the awareness of the Kapoor exhibition in Venice next spring to a whole other level.

From GQ:

Who’s behind art’s dark little secret, Vantablack?

When one self-taught scientist discovered a substance so black even Nasa couldn't find it, it was set to disrupt everything from Hollywood to fashion. Yet it was an art-world altercation that would hit the headlines. GQ goes behind the scenes in the war for the blackest black

I don't think I've ever read a GQ article before. I was impressed, once I got past the guyspeak. Stuart McGurk does the work of an investigative journalist, taking a deep dive into the controversy of color and examining the issue from all angles. It should have put a stop to the squabbling, but apparently not. Read it yourself and decide. 

One section that struck me was when McGurk seeks out Kassia St Clair, a writer, cultural historian and color expert who explains the importance of pigments and colors. McCurk writes:

It used to be part of an artist's job to source their own colours: to know a pigment alchemist, known as "colourmen", or a Silk Road trader who knew how to get things, or at least make a trip to Venice, at one point the pigment trading capital of the world.

Perhaps this is part of where the outrage about Vantablack comes from: a generation of artists too used to getting their colours in a shop. In some ways, Kapoor sourcing Vantablack for himself is a throwback to what an artist's job used to be.

"Yes," says St Clair. "We're so used to colour being democratic, to going into a shop. But, originally, artists would have to make their own pigments or source them from a particular place. That was part of your craft. That would," she says, "have been part of your reputation."

So it seems that Anish Kapoor, like all great artists, has committed the offense of actually doing his homework. And after seeing him with my own eyes, hearing him with my own ears, speaking to him one-on-one, and reading the GQ story, I have changed my opinion. His response to the Pinkest Pink no longer seems peevish. It seems funny. 

It is fitting that Anish Kapoor will have an exhibition in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, one of the finest collections of classical painting anywhere in the world. Kapoor said, "All art must engage with what went before. The Accademia presents a wonderful and wondrous challenge. I feel a deep commitment to Venice, its architecture and its commitment to the contemporary arts."

I am really looking forward to the arrival of the Blackest Black in the Universe and more from Anish Kapoor both at the Gallerie dell'Accademia and at Palazzo Manfrin. I think it's fantastic that Kapoor is restoring a palace in Venice as the headquarters of his foundation. 

And I never did much like pink.

The Anish Kapoor exhibitions at the Accademia Galleries and Palazzo Manfrin will run from April 20 to October 9, 2022 in conjunction with the next International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Go to the Gallerie dell'Accademia for more information.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog