— Anish Kapoor presents his 35 years creating process in Beijing
“ Make it of stainless steel plates, welded together in segments and formed into the shape you see now. It took about five years to weld together, and we spent several years polishing it. I’ve lived with that sculpture a long time.”
Anish Kapoor recently exhibits his sculpture collection in Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum and the Imperial Ancestral Temple at the same time. The exhibition presents his 35-year creating process. Kapoor is the first foreign artist exhibiting in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, by the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. Perhaps most famous for public sculptures that are both adventures in form and feats of engineering, Kapoor manoeuvres between vastly different scales, across numerous series of work.
“I always have been introspective. ”
The materials he used set his style and artworks apart from others. Metal like stainless steel is one of his major expressions. The feature of stainless steel, variability, no matter it is rounded or sharp-edged, provides multiple possibilities for Kapoor to expresses his art philosophy. Reflection may be a vital element in his sculptures. Typically it can be seen from many of his outdoor artworks which connect the objects, the surroundings and the people, reflecting a mindset of rethinking and introspecting which is affected by Kapoor’s motherland, Indian culture. Stainless steel undoubtedly has this tactile appeal to be used not only in practice.
Cloud Gate, 2004
Stainless steel
Millennium Park, Chicago, US
The 110-ton elliptical archway of highly polished stainless steel—nicknamed “The Bean”, his most well-known sculpture, inspired by hydrargyrum is a seamless stainless steel statue. The sky, the outlook of Chicago and the visitors converge at the mirror curve simultaneously. It not only is an externalization of Kapoor’s understandings about sky and earth, abstract and reality, concave and convex or topics that are contradictory but also involves visitors into an experiment, thinking between the opposite elements.
Sky Mirror, 2006
Stainless steel
Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, US
A breathtaking, 35-foot-diameter, 23-ton concave mirror made of polished stainless steel. Standing nearly three stories tall at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, Sky Mirror offers a dazzling experience of light and architecture, presenting viewers with a vivid inversion of the skyline featuring the historic landmark building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
“I hope the scale of my works is way bigger than what you see. I hope they live in you.”
C-Curve Time Lapse, 2009
Stainless steel
Brighton Festival, Chattri, Brighton, England
Placed in an open field, the highly polished curves of the stainless steel structure reflect and distort the surroundings. It perfectly blends the nature and viewers together. The upside-down reflection allows people to rethink about the relations of the world from an unique angle. At different time of day, it conveys different colors from the nature, which make the cold stainless steel become lively.
“The work doesn’t exist without the viewer… all work is incomplete. It’s completed by the person who is looking at it. That relationship is what makes it whole. ”
This time in Beijing, Kapoor’s stainless steel sculptures mainly exhibited in Imperial Ancestral Temple. It is a daring attempt to combine contemporary art with ancient eastern culture. Reflection from the western modern arts, there are thousands of ages lingering on the giant stainless steel sculptures, like contemporary Chinese people, reaching out their hands into the world, or in reverse, westerners having their minds entering into Chinese characteristics.
Stave, 2013
Stainless steel
The Imperial Ancestral Temple
C Curve, 2006
Stainless steel
Atrium of the Imperial Ancestral Temple
S Curve, 2007
Stainless steel
Atrium of the Imperial Ancestral Temple
Non Object, 2008
Stainless steel
The Imperial Ancestral Temple
“ Make it of stainless steel plates, welded together in segments and formed into the shape you see now. It took about five years to weld together, and we spent several years polishing it. I’ve lived with that sculpture a long time.”
Anish Kapoor recently exhibits his sculpture collection in Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum and the Imperial Ancestral Temple at the same time. The exhibition presents his 35-year creating process. Kapoor is the first foreign artist exhibiting in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, by the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. Perhaps most famous for public sculptures that are both adventures in form and feats of engineering, Kapoor manoeuvres between vastly different scales, across numerous series of work.
“I always have been introspective. ”
The materials he used set his style and artworks apart from others. Metal like stainless steel is one of his major expressions. The feature of stainless steel, variability, no matter it is rounded or sharp-edged, provides multiple possibilities for Kapoor to expresses his art philosophy. Reflection may be a vital element in his sculptures. Typically it can be seen from many of his outdoor artworks which connect the objects, the surroundings and the people, reflecting a mindset of rethinking and introspecting which is affected by Kapoor’s motherland, Indian culture. Stainless steel undoubtedly has this tactile appeal to be used not only in practice.
Cloud Gate, 2004
Stainless steel
Millennium Park, Chicago, US
The 110-ton elliptical archway of highly polished stainless steel—nicknamed “The Bean”, his most well-known sculpture, inspired by hydrargyrum is a seamless stainless steel statue. The sky, the outlook of Chicago and the visitors converge at the mirror curve simultaneously. It not only is an externalization of Kapoor’s understandings about sky and earth, abstract and reality, concave and convex or topics that are contradictory but also involves visitors into an experiment, thinking between the opposite elements.
Sky Mirror, 2006
Stainless steel
Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, US
A breathtaking, 35-foot-diameter, 23-ton concave mirror made of polished stainless steel. Standing nearly three stories tall at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, Sky Mirror offers a dazzling experience of light and architecture, presenting viewers with a vivid inversion of the skyline featuring the historic landmark building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
“I hope the scale of my works is way bigger than what you see. I hope they live in you.”
C-Curve Time Lapse, 2009
Stainless steel
Brighton Festival, Chattri, Brighton, England
Placed in an open field, the highly polished curves of the stainless steel structure reflect and distort the surroundings. It perfectly blends the nature and viewers together. The upside-down reflection allows people to rethink about the relations of the world from an unique angle. At different time of day, it conveys different colors from the nature, which make the cold stainless steel become lively.
“The work doesn’t exist without the viewer… all work is incomplete. It’s completed by the person who is looking at it. That relationship is what makes it whole. ”
This time in Beijing, Kapoor’s stainless steel sculptures mainly exhibited in Imperial Ancestral Temple. It is a daring attempt to combine contemporary art with ancient eastern culture. Reflection from the western modern arts, there are thousands of ages lingering on the giant stainless steel sculptures, like contemporary Chinese people, reaching out their hands into the world, or in reverse, westerners having their minds entering into Chinese characteristics.
Stave, 2013
Stainless steel
The Imperial Ancestral Temple
C Curve, 2006
Stainless steel
Atrium of the Imperial Ancestral Temple
S Curve, 2007
Stainless steel
Atrium of the Imperial Ancestral Temple
Non Object, 2008
Stainless steel
The Imperial Ancestral Temple