11 November 2009

Academy Art

Anish Kapoor's assault on London's Royal Academy of Arts.

The word on Anish Kapoor’s one-man exhibition is spreading across the globe, and the tip-off is it’s not to be missed.

With that quintessential ‘bigger is better’ approach to his sculptural endeavours, Kapoor has invaded London’s Royal Academy of Arts – and to great acclaim.

When his solo show opened on 26 September, Kapoor became the first British contemporary artist to exhibit a one-man show throughout the Academy’s galleries.

The Turner prize–winning sculptor has established himself as one of the most innovative artists of his generation, with pieces such as his 155-metre, fire engine red, PVC, trumpet-shaped ‘Marsyas’ housed in the Tate Modern’s gigantic Turbine Hall, in London (2003).

Back with a bang and exploiting sheer scale once more, this major exhibition showcases some 50 new works in Kapoor's characteristically dramatic fashion.

Seventy-six stainless-steel balls, entitled ‘Tall Tree and the Eye’, reach 15 metres high in the Annenberg courtyard, creating a breathtaking debut to the exhibition’s underpinning drama.

Seemingly floating mid-air, the cluster of shiny spheres mirror the classical surroundings, distorting form and space in an unsettlingly way.

Meanwhile the epic ‘Svayambh’ – Sanskrit for ‘self-generated’ – spans the breadth of the galleries of Burlington House with an immense block of red wax dissecting the building in a long red runway, and splattering wax across the white walls as it squeezes through the doorways.

You still have time to catch Kapoor’s exhibition, which runs until 11 December at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Royal Academy of Arts
royalacademy.org.uk

Anish Kapoor
anishkapoor.com