Sunday Artist 9/21

Anish Kapoor

Kapoor, is a 64-year-old sculptor whose work is, in one word, minimalist. In more than one word, however, a lot can be said. He is an illusionist, a magician, able to pull you in with a flick of his wrist (or some very shiny surfaces) and making you leave saying "How did he just do that?". Normally, I'm not a huge fan of minimalists, but I have grown to enjoy Kapoor's work and begun to find the common themes and small nuances in his work. For instance, he loves a very specific shade of deep red, which he has used throughout his years as an artist, and seems to take particular interest in blood (it being an essential for life to exist and all). The first work of his that I saw "Blood Solid", pretty much spelled this out, but other works, like "Drip" (shown here), "Here for Alba" (shown), and the giant dome of red wax that is kept in perfect shape by a moving blade (I don't know the name of this one, but its shown here) keep the theme alive.

As usual, he seems to be an artist that is just too famous to have a website, but he's been shown in ICA Boston, Tate, and the Gladstone Gallery (plus he has a work in Millennium Park, Chicago) and has been interviewed for the NY Times, all of which have links below.


http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/kapoor/
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kapoor/default.htm
http://www.gladstonegallery.com/kapoor.asp
http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/anish_kapoor.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/arts/design/30kapo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin