Week 6- Anish Kapoor Sculpture
Cloud Gate (2004), Millennium Park, Chicago |
Celebrated for his gigantic, stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor is changing the cultural environment with his public works.
1.Research Kapoor's work in order to discuss whether it is conceptual art or not. Explain your answer, using a definition of conceptual art.
Yes it is conceptual art. Kapoors’ work does not present the subject in a traditional form. Rather he uses the art form to represent his ideas as opposed to a perfect copy of the subject.
Definition:
Conceptual art is art in which the concepts or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns
2. Research 3 quite different works by Kapoor from countries outside New Zealand to discuss the ideas behind the work. Include images of each work on your blog.
1) Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror is a 35-foot-diameter concave mirror made from polished stainless steel. Its at the 5th avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, standing at nearly 3 stories high. It is a remarkable experience of architecture and light, and gives observers a vivid reflection of the historic building that stands behind it. It draws the skyline and ground together, successfully manipulating space and perception.
2) ‘Cloud Gate’ by Kapoor centerpiece in Millennium Park in Chicago, United States. It is made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together. It has a highly polished exterior with no visible seams. It has said to be inspired by liquid mercury. The Cloud Gate surface reflects and distorts the cities skyline. Whilst he named the work ‘Cloud Gate’ it is not a traditional gate. It’s an interesting symbol of warping and multiplying reflections.
3) Kapoor's towering new sculpture, Tall Tree and the Eye, has gone up in the courtyard of The Royal Academy of Arts. The structure is made of steel and has an arrangement of 76 shiny spheres which appear as they bubble up. This is inspired by the words of the German poet Rainer Rilke. As you look upwards, it gives the illusion of bubbles floating majestically towards the heavens. It has a look of weightlessness when viewed from the ground below. It closes the space between the Earth and the Sky.
http://jfkwalks.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/anish-kapoor-perception-and-deception/
http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/projects/06/kapoor/kapoor-06.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/20/anish-kapoor-sculpture-royal-academy
3.Discuss the large scale 'site specific' work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand.
The work is called, Dismemberment, Site 1. It is considered site specific because its form was created in a manner enabling it to withstand the high winds that blow inland to the site. The gigantic work gives thought to what space and environment means to art, Kapoor's sculpture embraces the environment in a conceptual form.
4. Where is the Kapoor's work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?
Kapoor's New Zealand work is found on Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour. It is made out of Mild steel tube and tensioned fabric. The overall form is achieved by a composition of a “vast PVC membrane stretched between the two giant steel ellipses” (Anish Kapoor, 2010), giving it the appearance of what I think looks like a balloon in stress. Kapoor stated that “I want to make body into sky” (Anish Kapoor, 2010) with these PVC works, suggesting that the idea was to create a relationship between the Earth and the sky; which appears to be a theme of his as we have seen this in previous work.
5. Comment on which work by Kapoor is your favourite, and explain why. Are you personally attracted more by the ideas or the aesthetics of the work?
My favourite sculpture from Anish Kapoor is Tall Tree and the Eye. I am attracted to both ideas and aesthetics of the design. The illusion of the bubbles floating into the sky is appealing, and the way Kapoor brings the Earth and Sky together is a very interesting concept.
Youtube has some excellent footage on Kapoor-take a look at Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy.
I find it interesting how you said that "Cloud Gate" is inspired by liquid mercury, because in my blog entry, when I was commenting on why it was my favourite of Kapoor's works, I mentioned that it looks almost liquid, and I didn't know about where the inspiration came from. I like how you described "Tall Tree and the Eye" as looking weightless, because I didn't hink about it before, but now that I think about it, it does resemble large bubbles floating towards the sky.
ReplyDelete