Artist Stuart Semple is once again taking a stand against color exclusivity, launching a new shade of fluorescent pink he’s dubbed Pinkie – The Most Barber Pink to protest Mattel’s trademarking of “Barbie Pink”, which gives the toy company exclusive rights to the doll’s signature color. The new paint comes in a box reminiscent of Barbie doll’s packaging.
“No one should own a color. Nature has already created all the colors, and the companies claiming them are just completely and utterly ridiculous,” Semple told Artnet News in an email. “The amount of money Mattel earns each year from licensing is extraordinary. No color should belong to a company, especially a company that is making billions of dollars at a time when artists and creators are really, really struggling.
The arrival of art supplies on the market, first reported by Alethea Magazineis scheduled for the highly anticipated July 21 release of Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie in the title role, with Ryan Gosling as the doll’s famous boyfriend, Ken. The production of the film would have triggered a global shortage of Rosco neon pink paint, and Mattel recently listed a life-size version of Barbie’s hot pink Malibu Dreamhouse on Airbnb to promote the expected blockbuster.
“As a result, [Mattel] now have ownership over anyone who uses the same pink color for decoration, which will be a blow to designers everywhere,” Pinkie’s product page warned, noting that the product release “will ensure that we have all access to special colors”.
Artist Stuart Semple is selling a new pink paint called Pinkie, in protest against Mattel’s Barbie Pink brand. Photo courtesy of Culture Hustle.
For years, Semple has taken a stand against what he calls “color hoarding” and the idea that any person (or business) should have exclusive use of a color.
In 2016, Anis Kapoor has entered into an agreement with British nanomaterials company Surrey NanoSystems to develop artistic applications for the company’s revolutionary Vantablack coating, a super black that reflects almost all light. The contract gave Kapoor and Kapoor alone the right to use the material – initially created by the chemical growth of long, tightly packed carbon nanotubes in a superheated chamber, but later developed as a spray paint— in works of art.
This did not sit well with Semple, who believes that everyone should have access to all shades of the rainbow and that anything less than that imposes harmful limitations on creativity.
Black 3.0 applied to a sculpture. Image courtesy of Stuart Semple.
So, in response, Semple – who had long since created his own art supplies to use in his practice – began selling a line of exceptional paints and pigment powders called Cultural unrest which were available to anyone except Kapoor, starting with a bold shade dubbed Pinkest Pink, before moving on to diamond dust (proclaimed the world’s most sparkling sequins), Black 2.0the blackest yet Black 3.0And Phazea color changing unicorn painting.
Purchasing any of Semple’s products requires ticking a box that reads: “By adding this product to your cart, you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated with Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor.
Nevertheless, the British Indian sculptor managed to get his hands on some of the Pinkest Pink, sharing a photo on Instagram of an open jar of powdered acrylic pigment, in which he had soaked his middle finger.
Artist Stuart Semple is selling a new pink paint called Pinkie, in protest against Mattel’s Barbie Pink brand. Photo courtesy of Culture Hustle.
Semple’s new product, marketed as “the most matte and pigmented fluorescent pink acrylic paint”, carries a similar purchase ban, this time aimed at Mattel, which is banned from using Pinkie.
“Although this pink is extremely ‘Barbie-ish’, I deliberately wanted to make it even better than theirs,” Semple said. “It’s SO pink, it’s even pinker than the pinkest pink. And I did this to show that anyone can have a much better color than their own.
Pinkie is available for sale starting July 28 and costs $34.99 including tax for five fluid ounces, or 150 milliliters.
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