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.
As defined by Caroun.com “Conceptual art is a contemporary form of artistic representation, in which a specific concept or idea, often personal, complex and inclusive, takes shape in an abstract, nonconforming manner, based upon a negation of aesthetic principals”.
I think Kapoor’s art is conceptual art because there are specific personal ideas behind each piece of his artwork and his work is very explorational. As Higgins (2008) explains Kapoor is interested in such things as negative space which he has explored by making work containing voids and also has investigated this notion by way of his mirror pieces – “a large group of sculptures of varying scale that include concave, circular wall-mounted mirrors several feet in diameter, and the huge Sky Mirror that was mounted near the Rockerfeller Centre in New York in 2006”.
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.
 |
| Kapoor's Installation Dirty Corner |
Dirty corner is a monumental site-specific installation that was created for ‘the fabbrica del vapore’ in Milan. The ideas behind this work is for the visitor of the work to lose their perception of space by entering the sculpture which gets progressively darker until there in no light, forcing the viewer to use other senses to guide them through the tunnel.
 |
| Kapoor's Installation Levitation (2011) |
 |
| Inside Levitation (2011) |
Another work by Kapoor is a 35 metre high ball called Leviathan and it’s made of tautly-stretched PVC over a giant metal frame. As Kapoor states (2011) his ambition was to create a space within a space, “people will be invited to enter the artwork to immerse themselves in its colour and it will be I hope a contemplative, poetic experience”.
 |
| Yellow Anish Kapoor |
Yellow is a work by Kapoor that “questions whether what we perceive is reality or imagination, a misunderstanding between the eye and the mind as one is overcome by a sea of colour, plain curving colour that takes a form outside of formation, hovering between apparition and a surface,” Kehinde (2009).
 |
| The Farm Anish Kapoor |
The large scale ‘site specific’ work that has been installed on a private site in New Zealand is called ‘The Farm’ “and it’s the largest permanent outdoor installation to date,” Chu (2010). It is a sculpture, which has been specifically created for Alan Gibbs’ 1000-acre farm just off of the Kaipara Harbour.
4.Where is the Kapoor’s work in New Zealand? What are its form and materials? What are the ideas behind the work?
“The ellipses are orientated one horizontal, the other vertical. Thirty-two longitudinal mono-filament cables provide displacement and deflection resistance to the wind loads while assisting with the fabric transition from horizontal ellipse, to a perfect circle at midspan, through to the vertical ellipse at the other end. The sculpture, which passes through a carefully cut hillside, provides a kaleidoscopic view of the beautiful Kaipara Harbor at the vertical ellipse end and the hand contoured rolling valleys and hills of ‘The Farm’ from the horizontal ellipse,” Fabric Architecture (2008).
The ideas behind the work according to the artist are that he’s interested in “sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relationship with both space and time”, - Anish Kapoor, Tate Magazine (2007).
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?
 |
| The view which is seen through Kapoor's sculpture |
I really like all of Kapoor’s installations but I am attracted most to Kapoor’s work ‘The Farm’ because it offers so much to the viewer and the landscape surrounding it. I think it’s so beautiful and I love how the red contrasts so well against the green landscape and also how it slots into the space. I am attracted both to the aesthetics and the ideas behind the work but I think more so the aesthetics. I would love to view this work up close and I like it how you can look through the centre of the installation to the Kaipara Harbour.
Reference List
Higgins, C (2008). A life in art: Anish Kapoor. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/nov/08/anish-kapoor-interview
Fabric Architecture (2010). Anish Kapoor sculpture blends fabric and steel in New Zealand. http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html
Chu, A (2010). New Form at the Farm – Anish Kapoor dismemberment: site. http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Form-at-the-Farm-Anish-Kapoor-Dismemberment-Site-1/173514462671879
Mail Online (2011). The next big thing: Giant PVC sculpture stuns the Paris arts scene. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385590/Anish-Kapoor-Leviathan-sculpture-unveiled-Grand-Palais-Paris.html
Kehinde (2009). Anish Kapoor – Perception and Deception. http://jfkwalks.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/anish-kapoor-perception-and-deception/
No comments:
Post a Comment