Sculptor Anish Kapoor may not immediately stand out on the streets of Fort Kochi in his blue shirt and knee-length shorts. But in the world of art, he is among the most influential sculptors of his generation. His works exhibited at galleries all over the world create illusions that push the viewer’s understanding of space, while his massive public sculptures provoke even those unfamiliar with contemporary art to stop and take a second look.
Among his most popular works is the ‘Orbit,’ a 115m-high sculpture and observation tower situated at the 2012 Olympic Park in London. The structure was designed by Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. Another of his public sculptures is the bean-shaped stainless steel ‘Cloud Gate’ in Chicago. What strikes the viewer about some of Kapoor’s works is their sheer size. But every inch of his sculptures, even the voids, are filled with meaning.
“Sculpture is all about how something stands up and scale is one of the tools of sculpture. It’s not something we should be shy about. I’m interested in bigness,” he says. “When you stand in front of something that really has scale, your eyes open wider, your jaw might drop, you might have that moment of ‘Wow!’ That is very similar to the so called sublime. The experience takes you, momentarily, out of yourself. It’s a kind of suspension of time. There’s something in that moment which is very powerful. So scale isn’t just a matter of size. Scale is always a matter of meaning,” he explains.
The artist, who was born in Mumbai and has worked in London for many years, is in Kochi ahead of the second edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale that begins in December 2014.
Kochiites could be forgiven for expecting an awe-inducing public sculpture from the renowned sculpture for the biennale. For now, Kapoor is still getting to know Kochi a little better. “Kochi is arguably one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India. It has layers of history which run all alongside each other. The biennale runs exactly parallel with that tradition. It is also a cosmopolitan adventure,” he says.
‘Lamentable reality’The recent political developments in the country, however, bode ill for artistic thought, Kapoor believes. “Sadly, in India, we see an increase in nationalism and a decrease in cosmopolitanism. I say that is a lamentable reality. Art can’t be claimed by a nationalist agenda. It is a poetic forum for us all to experience in the widest possible way. We have to remember that politics and art are linked to each other in a very real way.”
