| Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy of Arts |
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| Written by Solange | ||||
| Friday, 16 October 2009 00:00 | ||||
 LONDON For the very first time an artist is given a solo show at the Royal Academy, and what an awesome exhibition this retrospective is. I fell in love with Anish Kapoor's work when I was at art school. Since then, he has produced a whole new body of work but nothing has changed I still love his art. You are warned this review will try for objectivity but its author is completely biased. Magic.  The show starts before you get in the building. An oversized beautiful sculpture made out of 75 spheres hanging there by magic, reflecting and multiplying the surroundings greets the visitor. “Tall Tree and the Eye” is one of the latest artist's creation. Sensuality. In the late 70's, the artist experimented with pigments and forms. Anish Kapoor first came to the attention of the public and established his reputation with a series of biomorphic objects. “1000 names” are pigmented shapes displayed in the first gallery. The sculptures are relatively small objects which appear to have grown through the room where they sit on the floor and walls. They are covered in bright pigments and look so gorgeous that you will have all the difficulty in the world to refrain yourself from approaching close to caress them. Overwhelming scale. Most of Anish Kapoor's sculptures are very, very large, often spilling out of your field of vision. “Yellow” and “Hive” created at 10 year intervals are such pieces. “Yellow” is a vast (six square meters) fibreglass, monochrome disc where its centre fades deep into the wall, drawing the viewer with it. “Hive” is a steel structure which occupies an entire room and has its own internal space too.   Innovation. The two most talk about exhibits, break away from the rest of the artist's work. “Shooting in the Corner” is a show within the show, every 20 minutes a man dressed in black loads and fires crimson cannon balls into an anti-room. By the end of the show 20 tonnes of wax will have travelled through this ancient grade II listed building, ending up splattered over its walls. Next door, a monumental 35 ton block of wax rolls on tracks, very slowly , through 5 galleries. The block is slightly bigger than the doors it squeezes itself through shaping a sculpture in the process. “Svayambh” which means self generated in Sanskrit measures 4.5 x 8 x 2.3 metres Beauty and vertigo could be added to qualify the pieces in this awe-inspiring retrospective. Don't miss it.  Photos: All works by Anish Kapoor “Tall Tree and the Eye”, 2009, picture of a small part of the whole sculpture, Photo: Solange. “White sand, Red millet, Many Flowers”, 1982. Mixed Media and pigment, 4 elements, 101 x 241.5 217.4 cm. Collection Arts Council, South Bank Centre, London “Yellow”, 1999. Fibreglass and pigment, 600 x 600 x 300cm. Photo: Dave Morgan. Installation: Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2007-2008 “Svayambh”, 2007. Wax and oil-based paint, dimensions variable. Photo Cecile Clos. Installation: Musee des Beaux-Arts de Nantes Biography: Born in India, 1954, Anish Kapoor studied at Hornsey College of Art, London (1973 – 1977) and at Chelsea School of Art, London (1977 – 1978). Kapoor’s first solo exhibition was held at Patrice Alexandre, Paris in 1980. His international reputation was quickly established, with an array of solo exhibitions held in countries around the world. Kapoor represented Britain in the Paris Biennale in 1982, and again in 1990 at the Venice Biennial, for which he was awarded Premio Duemila. The following year he won the prestigious Turner Prize Award. Anish Kapoor has recently acted as Guest Artistic Director of the Brighton Festival 2009. Kapoor was elected Royal Academician in 1999 and has been awarded Honorary Fellowships by the London Institute and Leeds University (1997), University of Wolverhampton (1999) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (2001). He lives and works in London. Practicalities: The RA exhibition is curated by the independent curator Jean de Loisy in conjunction with Dr Adrian Locke, Exhibitions Curator, Royal Academy of Arts.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 October 2009 10:32 |