12 December 2009

Kapoor mania in London town

On its last day, the Anish Kapoor exhibition was open till midnight, reportedly with long queues. This show has proved very, very popular - because it has amazing objects/work in it - with showmanship as well as subtle messages and deep thinking. Perhaps because of this he got a lot of publicity in conjunction with the show - including a good tv programme (if you can use BBC iPlayer, it's interesting to watch; 18 days left at time of writing) - click here. There are lots of other media links on that page.
Otherwise, go to the Royal Academy website - you'll be amazed at what one artist can do to ruin a perfectly good art gallery - he shoots red waxy stuff out of a cannon - see that here. Afterwards, lots more links appear to other little videos to watch...

In one part of the gallery, a huge block of the red waxy stuff moves through the doorways between three rooms. In another room, cubes and other shapes are made out of mirrors - fascinating to watch people looking at themselves in the mirrors, they distort their bodies, always amusing.
Kapoor first got known for his piles of pure pigments - he considers colour to be a "thing", rather than a quality.
Outside the gallery is a tower of mirrored balls. He's also installed some huge convex mirrors, like satellite dishes, in various places around the world, to reflect the sky -- people who "hate modern art" have been amazed by them ... they come and watch the clouds moving across - a simple enough experience, but not something you ordinarily do in a busy life, especially in a city.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Sadly I haven't managed to get to see this exhibition irl but I saw the BBC programme and have to admit I was quite worried about the possible damage to the fabric of the building ;) I have seen one of the sky mirrors and they are wonderful.