Artist Stuart Semple has revealed his latest creation in an ongoing colour battle with Anish Kapoor ? an "open source" cherry-scented version of the Vantablack pigment exclusively licensed to Kapoor.

The Black 1.0 Beta pigment is described by Semple as the "flattest, mattest, blackest art material on the planet", and can be purchased by anyone ? excluding Kapoor ? for £16.99.
It comes in two parts ? a super-black matt pigment and an acrylic copolymer base that smells of black cherry.
The release of the pigment follows an ongoing colour feud between Kapoor and Semple, which began when Kapoor secured exclusive rights to use VantaBlack in artworks.

Recently, Semple released the "world's pinkest pink" and banned Kapoor from using it. However, the artist got his hands on it and posted a picture of his middle finger dipped in the paint to his Instagram account with the caption "Up yours #pink". "This whole colour war has gone too far," Semple said. "He's hoarding the black to make wristwatches, run off with my Pink and given everyone the finger. We've got a better black now so it?s time to bury the hate."
Although Semple's version of Vantablack is still in its testing phase, he hopes that the artist community will experiment and help him make it as strong as its exclusive counterpart.

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