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Journalism of Courage
Artist Atul Dodiya on why Anish Kapoor is one of the most important artists working in the world today.
Anish Kapoor is one of the most important artists working in the world today. His work has technical brilliance,and its sheer skill and size is overwhelming.
I am impressed with the manner in which he has developed the form and structure of his work over the years. He began with moderate-sized sculptures and has grown to the point where his gigantic sculptures are achievements in themselves. His public sculptures are accessible to people on many levels,from the lay person who enjoys his reflection in a work like Cloud Gate to the critic who may examine his use of space and void.
What I like most about Anish is his concern with space. When you are dealing with sculpture,you have to encounter and resolve actual physical space. His sculptural concepts move beyond space into the metaphysical. His works raise questions like,where am I? Who am I? What is my relationship with space and the universe? All this gets expressed through the physicality of his works. He touches upon expansion,darkness and light,what is eternal and what remains only for a fraction of time.
His works are engineering marvels but they are not only about wax or stainless steel. I listen to his work and it evokes a kind of emotion or feeling; a subtle sound which makes me feel good. It has a deep resonance that comes out in various aspects and ideas of space,whether it involves looking into a hole or looking at a reflection. For example,when he makes a stainless steel disk,not only does it reflect the outside world,but it is also a container that turns inward. This juxtaposition of the inner and the outer elements involves a lot of deep thinking. That is why his works stand on their own. The scale shocks and baffles people with its grandeur but deep down it is about his relationship with the world.
I have not seen Shooting in the Corner but the idea of the wax hurled against the wall makes me think about violence. It is a simple act but one is able to read so many things into it. It8217;s as if he wants to talk about violence through an abstract work. The work maybe abstract but it comes from a very concrete experience of being socially and politically located.
The other thing I like about Anish is that he is able to surprise his audience every time. His idea of a void,or a circle,or a hole changes every time he uses new material or changes his scale. His ability to innovative is remarkable. This can be seen in his works displayed at the Tate Modern,Turbine Hall.
Another of his work,shown at Royal Academy in London,fascinates me. It8217;s called Swayambh and consists of a huge wax arch on a train track that passes through the exhibition grounds. In Indian philosophy,swayambhu is about art that is born of itself. The belief is that the object has come out of the earth on its own. It is something born of nature. Anish is able to achieve that in his work. I was so involved in looking at the work and enjoying the life it exudes that I forgot about its materiality or the logistics involved in making it.
I met him in London in 2001 when he came to view the Century City exhibition at the Tate Modern. My work of painted shop shutters was part of the group show and he said he liked it. He related to it even though I am very rooted in India and very specific about my idiom. When he reacted to my work,it was like a peer showing respect for another peer8217;s work. Though I have spent short periods with him,I got a sense of camaraderie. He is someone engaged all the time with creativity.
As told to Georgina Maddox The Anish Kapoor retrospective opens at the National Gallery of Modern Art,Delhi,on November 27 and in Mumbai at Mehboob Studio on November 29. The exhibitions will be on till the end of February.
