Little Black Book of Art

Go and see the stunning supersized works by Indian artist Anish Kapoor at The Royal Academy of Art which opens on 26 September till 11 December 2009.

Anish Kapoor is also showing smaller scale works at the Lisson Gallery in London NW1 (the gallery he was signed to when he was 26 and has been with ever since), from 14 October – 14 November 2009.

Born in Mumbai in 1954, Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s where he moved to study art, first at the Hornsey College of Art and later at the Chelsea School of Art and Design.

This Turner prize winner has gained international acclaim, represented Britain in the 1990 Venice Biennale and has had solo exhibitions at major museum spaces and galleries worldwide. His often large-scale sculptures tend to be made from tactile, sensual materials screaming out to be touched and interacted with.

His pieces are on show in New York at MOMA, the Prada Foundation in Milan, the Guggenheim in Bilbao and Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, and more recently two made their way at No.10.

Today, most of the monumental work he is commissioned to do tends to be for public spaces, hence his need to work out of a large studio employing something between 20 and 30 full-time staff. His worskshop is based in Camberwell in south London where teams of craftsmen work under his command on several projects at the same time. This is where his playground is, an area where he can try things out, play with a variety of shapes and experiment with a range of materials.

Kapoor’s work along with the likes of Lucien Feud, Jeff Koons and David Hockney is highly sought after, and fetches millions of pounds – in 2008 an alabaster sculpture fetched a record £2m at Sotheby’s.

This Royal Academician was awarded a CBE in 2003 and it is fitting that he is exhibiting at the Academy this month. It is his first show since 2002, when he took over the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with a vast, alien-like form entitled Marsyas. A show of this scale has never taken place at the RAA by a living artist, so it’s a huge honor for Kapoor and a show which will not disappoint. The show will feature new 50 pieces, including the magnificent Svayambh (see first picture) an incredible wax-like work that moves right through Burlington House.

Visit his website for a more comprehensive view of his stunning work. www.anishkapoor.com

Watch Art Critic Ossian Ward taking a walk around the exhibition:

Comments are closed.