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Experienced histories findings

Anish Kapoor was born in Mumbai, India in 1954. After finding his passion of art, he hitchhiked to London, attended, and graduated from Hornets College of Arts. He briefly attended Chelsea College of Art before returning to India on an inspiration trip. Lampoon’s preferred form of art is sculpting. He has worked with paint, but always goes back to sculpting.  Kapoor has stated he makes his sculptures and paintings to be expressed as a void or something that isn’t there. He currently subsides in his hometown in London. (1)

Descent into limbo, Anish Kapoor, 1992, concrete and pigment, 600 x 600 x 600 cm (2)

Cloud Gate, Anish Kapoor, 2006, Stainless steel, 33 ft × 42 ft × 66 ft (2)

Post minimalism

Aught and augment, Eva Hesse, 1968 (13)

Anish Kapoor’s style is described as post-minimalism combined with spirituality (3). Post minimalism is a movement that was a rejection of minimalism’s geometric, unnatural shapes and conservative size and material. It features organic and irregular shapes (4). Anish Kapoor uses organic shapes such as bean-like, funnels, and egg-shapes. He is also seen using copious amounts of materials, such as pigment and large sculptures. A giant bean-shaped sculpture was made of stainless steel in 2006. It can be seen above, labelled as “Cloud Gate”. (2)

THE SUBLIME (IN ART)

An avalanche in the alpha, Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1803, oil paint on canvas, 1562 × 2052 × 175 mm (12)

The sublime, in art, refers to the connection in art of spirituality and something bigger than humans. It is awe inspiring and evokes a sense of not knowing something. It is theorized to have started around the 1800s (5). His connection with the sublime starts with Svayambhu. Kapoor has stated that he is inspired by his Indian culture in ways such as Svayambhu (6). Svayambhu is defined as something that is made not from the hand of man, but by itself or the divine (7).  Another connection to the sublime is his inspiration from infinity and void. Kapoor draws a large amount of inspiration from infinity and void. They provide a state of nothingness. The common color black that Kapoor uses in much of his art signifies an opening for limitless experiences and limitless opportunities for self development and contemplation (8). Kapoor approaches love, death, psychology, and fear with his void pieces. They evoke physical and emotional depth as well as the profundity of the sublime (9).

MYTHOLOGY

Marsyas, Anish Kapoor, 2003, steel and PVC membrane, 150 meters long and ten stories tall (14)

Anish Kapoor has been inspired by mythology and has expressed such inspiration in many interviews. In an interview with a questioner about his new exhibit in Museo d’arte Contemporanea Roma, we seldom get to hear the questioner’s voice. In the interview, Kapoor discusses Rome and the myth of Marsyas. His takeover of the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in 2003 was titled Marsays, as it resembled the mythology. In the myth, the character Marsyas is flayed. In the takeover, there was red PVC membrane “stretched like skin.” (10) In a book written by Nicholas Baume, Anish Kapoor says "When you interrogate the idea of the autogenerated in relation to my work, I can’t help talking about the religious dimension, the myths of origin.” (11)

1.       "https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kapoor-anish/

2.       Art and Biography - https://www.artsy.net/artist/anish-kapoor

3.       https://www.regenprojects.com/exhibitions/anish-kapoor4/press-release

4.       https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/book_report/what-was-post-minimalism-54140

5.       https://www.theartstory.org/amp/definition/the-sublime-in-art/history-and-concepts/

6.       https://theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/anish-kapoor-the-british-sculptor-who-creates-myths/

7.       https://href.li/?https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/svayambhu#language

8.       https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kapoor-anish/

9.       https://magazine.artland.com/anish-kapoor-ritual-and-void/

10.   https://www.wallpaper.com/art/anish-kapoor-documentary-under-the-skin

11.   Anish Kapoor – Nicholas Baume

12. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/de-loutherbourg-an-avalanche-in-the-alps-t00772

13.

14. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series/unilever-series-anish-kapoor-marsyas

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research questions: How does Anish Kapoor portray the infinite and mysticism?

Initial findings: these are some things that inspired the artwork of Anish Kapoor

- traditional Indian culture and concepts such as Svayambhu

-infinity, void and The sublime in art

-mythology and mystic

Expanded list of sources:

1. "inspired by both the Western art movements of the 1960s and Indian concepts such as Svayambhu "

2. "Kapoor's interest in infinity, void, and endlessness is as much an interest in carving out space to consider meaning"

3. "artists make mythologies"

https://www.ideelart.com/magazine/anish-kapoor

4. "He describes the void as being a state within, a potential space, not a non-space. "

5. "Svayambhū (स्वयम्भू) refers to the “self-born” and is used as an epithet for Brahmā"

6. "Kapoor’s work responds to the artistic tradition. He discusses the myth of Marsyas, the satyr who challenged Apollo to a musical duel, lost, and was flayed as punishment."

7. "When you interrogate the idea of the autogenerated in relation to my work, I can’t help talking about the religious dimension, the myths of origin. "

Anish kapoor by Nicholas Baume

What's next?

I will be further researching the ways that mysticism are portrayed in Anish Kapoor's art and other artists works.

[andydrewsblog]

MindMap

Artist: Anish Kapoor

Sources:

Information about artist - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anish-Kapoor

Art and Biography - https://www.artsy.net/artist/anish-kapoor

Official website - https://anishkapoor.com/

Artwork: 

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/anish-kapoor-kubi-series Information 

Visual description: 

dark colors: red, black and brown

veiny/string-like red

centered dark ring

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/anish-kapoor-lime-and-apple-mix-to-brandy-red information

Visual description:

yellow-green fading to red 

reflective surface

circle shape

white background

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/anish-kapoor-moonstone information

Visual description:

stone-like complexion

centered dark, thin moon shape

natural chipped stone background shape

Facts said by or about artist:

“What I’ve said very often, is that I don’t care for what I know, and I don’t suppose anybody else cares either. I care about what I don't know. It is the artist’s job, I believe, to be somehow fearless, adventurous, to go into an unknown space” - Anish Kapoor https://anishkapoor.com/6303/in-conversation-with-marcello-dantas-2

“ During the 1980s and ’90s Kapoor was increasingly recognized for his biomorphic sculptures and installations, made with materials as varied as stone, aluminum, and resin, that appeared to challenge gravity, depth, and perception. In 1990 he represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale with his installation Void Field, a grid of rough sandstone blocks, each with a mysterious black hole penetrating its top surface” - author Michal Raz-Russo https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anish-Kapoor

“Political violence however is not the same as artistic violence. This political vandalism uses an “art material” (paint) to make actual violence. It could have been a bomb or a hood thrown over someone’s head to kidnap them. Artistic violence is generative, political violence destructive. Artistic violence may scream at the tradition of previous generations. It may violently overturn what was before but in so doing it follows a long tradition of re-generation. It always, however, advances the language of art. Political violence, seeks erasure. Its aim is the removal of the offending idea, person, practice or thing.“ - Anish Kapoor https://anishkapoor.com/1031/dirty-corner-19-06-2015