ANISH KAPOOR

(B. 1954)

Untitled
1995

Footnotes

Provenance
Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia
Private Collection, Europe (acquired directly from the above in 1996)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art Day Auction, 27 June 2013, Lot 315
Private Collection, Turkey
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
Brescia, Galleria Massimo Minini, Anish Kapoor, 1996

Literature
David Anfam, Johanna Burton and Donna De Salvo (Eds.), Anish Kapoor, London, New York 2009, p. 245, illustrated in colour



Anish Kapoor's Untitled conceived in 1995, is a work of astounding beauty and a magnificent example of the world-renowned sculptor's mastery of chromed bronze. It serves as a remarkable example of the artist's exploration of the void: an extraordinary manifestation of the sculptor's long-running investigation into the potential of interior versus exterior space.

Untitled appears to shine with an almost unearthly radiance, instilling its surroundings with a bright, silvery light. The circular aperture at the centre of the mirrored rectangle acts as the locus of the installation, inexorably drawing the viewer's eye inwards. Kapoor has spoken of his desire to create works that appear to recede into the distance, disappear into walls or floors, or otherwise destabilise assumptions about the physical world: "Space is often perceived as an external phenomenon, something outside the body... For every concrete object there is an equal non-object, a dark and mysterious one. The space at the back of the cave" (the artist in: David Anfam, Johanna Burton and Donna De Salvo (Eds.), Anish Kapoor, London 2010, p. 403).

The concept of the void has long served as one of Kapoor's key themes in his artistic practice; the moment in his sculpture when the opening isn't just a hole but a space full of what isn't there. He began exploring the theme of the void in large-scale stone works, at times defining the insides and outsides, at other times clearly delineating empty spaces. He describes the void as being a state within, a potential space, not a non-space. With his exploration of the void, Kapoor approaches psychology, fear, death, and love in as direct a way as possible, yet avoiding direct storytelling or meaning. Significantly, Kapoor asserts that he has nothing to say as an artist, no message for the world. As such, he explains, meaning arises because it must, not because he puts it there. "The void is not silent. I have always thought of it more as a transitional space, an in-between space. It's very much to do with time" (the artist in: Homi K. Bhabha Anish Kapoor, London 1998, p. 35).

Gazing into the dark, sensual and immaterial voids of these sculptures infuses the viewer with a direct experience of the void through his use of medium or colour. Kapoor's aim with this series of works, is to awaken in the viewer an awareness of incorporeality through their own inner experience. In this sense these works are like existential gateways, strange meeting points between the immaterial and material worlds, between the viewer's innate sense of self and of infinity and nothingness. The central cavity in Untitled opens up a view into an un-defined space characterised by the polished chromed surface; and here one could even believe that the infinite void of the cavity is contained on the other side of the finite space of the wall.

Born in Bombay in 1954, Anish Kapoor moved to London in 1973 and studied at Hornsey College of Art and the Chelsea School of Art. He first gained critical recognition in the 1980s for his biomorphic sculptures and installations made with media as varied as, stone, aluminium, and resin, that appeared to challenge gravity, depth, and perception. In 1990 he represented Britain at the 44th Venice Biennale with Void Field, 1989, a grid of rough sandstone blocks each with an enigmatic hole penetrating its top surface and was subsequently awarded the Premio Duemila for Best Young Artist. A year later in 1991 he was honoured with the Turner Prize.

Kapoor has reached international status that has seen him create a number of the world's most recognisable contemporary public sculptures, including Cloud Gate in Chicago's Millennium Park completed in 2006 and the ArcelorMittal Orbit for London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2012. As Kapoor's works expanded in size, they continued to emphasise the inherent dualities of the material and non-material. Many of his later works embody the perfected finishes of stainless steel or distort through mirrored spaces. Today Kapoor's works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Fondazione Prada in Milan, and the Tate Gallery in London, among others, and in 2009 he became the first living British artist to exclusively occupy the Royal Academy with a ground-breaking solo exhibition.

Untitled truly stands as one of the pinnacles of Kapoor's sculptural oeuvre, a glorious evocation of the transcendental and unquantifiable nature of the infinite.