LLEI D'ART 14

TheAlchemyof Kapoor andHisLoveof Red TheSculpture of theMind Coincidingwith the 6thMoscowBiennale, the Jewish Museum andToleranceCenter—fundedby London’s LissonGallery—present an exhibitionof thework of Anish Kapoor, its first since the establishmentmade thedecision to host seasonal showings of thework of contemporary artists. Kapoor is one of themost influential artists living today, thanks towhat has beenone of hismost outstanding achievements in the eyes of the ‘experts’: succeeding in altering thewaywe, the observers, perceivemodern sculpture. Kapoor was born in 1954 inBombay, India and has worked and lived inLondon since 1973. The sonof an Indian father and an Iraqi mother, a non-practising Jew, he creates cavities, spaces, holes –or voids, as heprefers todefine them, given that the essence of his symbolic sculpture is the search for thebest andmost impactful way of representing the uncontained space, the void. In the famous sculptor’s ownwords: I am interested in all sculpture capable ofmanipulating the spectator, establishing adirect linkbetween space and time, and understanding time as divided into two levels: one of those is the narrative and cinematic, andoccurs following a step through thework; the other is the literal lengtheningof themoment. This hasmuch todowith shape and colour, as colour tends to induce a sort of daydream and, consequently, a lengtheningof the presentmoment. The space contained in aparticular objectmust be greater than the object which contains it.My intention is to separate the object from its container. The centrepiece aroundwhich hisMoscowproposal revolves is an enormousmoundof earth, wax andVaseline, dyed the colour of red saffron, finished in 2003. Entitled MyRed Homeland , it delights the critics every bit asmuch as the public, who tend to react to the spectacle of his sculptures with surprise and a certainpuzzlement at feeling literally engulfedby theAnglo-Indian’s often enormousworks. It is almost reminiscent of the artifice of a themepark, one of whosemain aims, aside frommaking the tills ring, is to inspire intense, even visceral feelings in its visitors. The sculpture is accompaniedby four others representing a void, amountain, fire andwater. Itmay bebest to leave the subject ofmysticism to your own judgement. It is difficult tomarry spiritualitywith speculation, although very rarely there is someonewho seems tobe able topull it off. It is certainly true that Kapoor is amagnificent illusionist and the unquestionable star of the show. He has had the fortune togain the favour of both himself andothers. It’s very possible that such a great achievement hasmuch todowithhis frame ofmind, andhis unwillingness tobe fodder for controversy. He confesses that he is passionate about andprofoundly influencedby his native culture. Aspects as controversial as presence, absence, density and emptiness are just some of the anxieties overcome his artistic productions. Fromhiswatchtower of privilege, reachable only by a few, hemakes his addresswith extraordinary eloquence, highlightinggames of duality between themystic, conscience, thephysical and thephilosophical; shadows and light; the corporal and themental; the sublime and the vulgar. There is nothingmorebut tohear him say it himself: It’s confusingwhen you usewords like ‘mystical’ withmy origin, as all Indian stuff is supposed tobe fuckingmystical. It’s very confusing; there’s always this strange territory between the straightforward and theprofoundlymysterious […].We live in a worldwhere everything is explainablebut there are some things that are not explainable,” he continued. “There are some objects I’ve looked at over the years and I still don’t understandwhat they’re really about. Isn’t that something? AnishKapoor. S-Curve , 2006.Museo Judío yCentrode la Tolerancia (Moscú)/ The JewishMuseum&Tolerance (Moscow). ©AnishKapoor AnishKapoor. ©AnishKapoor 14