The Magic Sculptures of Anish Kapoor
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Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay, India (now Mumbai), to a Hindu father and a Jewish mother whose family immigrated from Baghdad when she was a few months old. According to Kapoor, his mother had an Indian-Jewish upbringing, her father being the cantor of the synagogue in Pune. At this time, Baghdadi Jews constituted the majority of the Jewish community in Mumbai. His father, from a Hindu Punjabi family, was a hydrographer in the Indian Navy. Kapoor is the brother of Canada-based academic Ilan Kapoor.

 

Cloud Gate Anish Kapoor

 

Kapoor attended The Doon School, an all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, then in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. He is said to have "hated" his time at Doon.  In 1971–1973, he travelled to Israel with one of his two brothers, initially living on a kibbutz. He began to study electrical engineering, but had trouble with mathematics and quit after six months. In Israel, he decided to become an artist.

 

 

In 1973, he left for Britain to attend Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art and Design.  There he found a role model in Paul Neagu, an artist who provided a meaning to what he was doing.  Kapoor went on to teach at Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1979 and in 1982 was Artist in Residence at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s.

 

 anish kapoor portrait lisson gallery dezeen hero2 1

 

Kapoor became known in the 1980s for his geometric or biomorphic sculptures using simple materials such as granite, limestone, marble, pigment and plaster.  These early sculptures are frequently simple, curved forms, usually monochromatic and brightly coloured, using powder pigment to define and permeate the form. "While making the pigment pieces, it occurred to me that they all form themselves out of each other. So I decided to give them a generic title, A Thousand Names, implying infinity, a thousand being a symbolic number. The powder works sat on the floor or projected from the wall. The powder on the floor defines the surface of the floor and the objects appear to be partially submerged, like icebergs. That seems to fit inside the idea of something being partially there." Such use of pigment characterised his first high-profile exhibit as part of the New Sculpture exhibition at the Hayward Gallery London in 1978.

 

 LondonMayorUnveilsAnishKapoorSculpture271TRyOU6Max

 

Throughout his career, Kapoor has worked extensively with architects and engineers. Kapoor says this body of work is neither pure sculpture nor pure architecture. Notable architectural projects include:

 

Ark Nova Inflatable Concert Hall 

 

Ark Nova is an Inflatable Concert hall that will Travel Around the Earthquake Struck Regions of Japan Designed in collaboration with Architect Arata Isozaki

 

 ArcelorMittal Orbit April 2012

Orbit is a Permanent Artwork for the Olympic Park

in Collaboration with Engineer Cecil Balmond

 

 Tees Valley Giants 

Temenos the first work of the recently announced Tees Valley Giants, the world's five largest sculptures, in collaboration with Cecil Balmond.

 

Temenos

Temenos is situated in Middlehaven Dock, Middlesbrough

 

Anish Kapoor Dismemberment Site 1 2009 Paul Kramer 1

 

 anish kapoor dismemberment 1

 

Anish Kapoor Dismemberment Site 1 2009 1 1

 

Anish Kapoor Dismemberment Site 1 2009 15 1

 

Dismemberment Site 1, installed in New Zealand at the Gibbs Farm sculpture park

owned by New Zealand businessman and art patron Alan Gibbs

 

07 Skyvilla View 002 draft

 

anish kapoor buys apartment herzog de meuron 56 leonard new york designboom 004

 

130211 56 Leonard Interior view Final Rev 02 B

56 Leonard Street in New York is in Collaboration with Architects Herzog and de Meuron

 

dzn Naples Subway Station 02

 

 Traiano Metro Station

 

toledo metro naples 12

 

toledo2

Two subway stations in Naples at Monte San Angelo and Triano in collaboration with Future Systems

 

 Princess Diana Memorial

A proposal for the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

 

 Anish Kapoor Tarantara 2000 Napoli Piazza del Plebiscito Fonte httpsfotosintez.files .wordpress.com

 

 Taratantara side

 

Taratantara inside

Taratantara (1999–2000) was installed at the Baltic Centre for

Contemporary Art Gateshead and later at Piazza Plebiscito, Naples

 

 

 anish kapur 2

 expo 92 33

Building for a Void, Created for Expo '92, Seville, in Collaboration with David Connor

 

Best ideas of Anish Kapoor

 

800px TWUP Jerusalem 190810 1

Jerusalem, Israel

 

Anish Kapoor Versailles exhibition descension

Versalles Exhibition Fountain

 

Sky Mirror Rockefeller Center

Sky Mirror in Rickefeller Center, New York

 

scultura metro monte santangelo napoli

 

Of his vision for the Cumana station in Monte Sant'Angelo, Naples, Italy Kapoor said: It’s very vulva-like. The tradition of the Paris or Moscow metro is of palaces of light, underground. I wanted to do exactly the opposite – to acknowledge that we are going underground. So it’s dark, and what I’ve done is bring the tunnel up and roll it over as a form like a sock.