by Andrew Adams

Created on: June 09, 2008

"Impressions of Anish Kapoor"

An article appeared in the recent issue of TIME (June 16, 2008) that highlights the sculptor Anish Kapoor. Apparently he has a new exhibit running in Boston. Seeing pictures of his work on the article's page-particularly that dark red pigment and reflective sheeting-reminded me of my own recent introduction to Kapoor. It was interesting to read Richard Lacayo's descriptions and impressions, using words like "Wagnerian" or "metaphysical jujitsu," as compared with my own. While he adeptly commented on the style and content of the sculptures, my own exposure has tended to emphasize metaphorical interpretations-to require a narrative.

One of my challenges in studying abstract art is looking for that narrative. In literature this is somewhat easier (though others might disagree) because it is constructed of narrative; whether or not the interpretations and inner-workings of the story are apparent to me, SOME story is recognizable enough. Such isn't always the case for me with art, and I have to confess that a great deal of contemporary art rejects more than invites my interpretation. Or maybe it's more proper to suggest that I reject the artwork.

Either way, my first impressions of Anish Kapoor's sculptures were tired and frustrated because-like my fellow amateur art critics-I wondered why it was "art" at all. Somehow, the turnaround came in studying Kapoor as architect more than artist, although I would number myself among the first to defend engineers as artists in their own right. For whatever reason, this change in viewpoint enabled me to accept Kapoor's pieces more readily, as if knowing they are contextual and not just LARGE transferred them from gigantic mounds to contributory city structures.

I refer here to Kapoor's MARSYAS (2002, PVC and steel, 150 meters long) at the Tate Modern, which in a number of descriptions is referred to as combining art and architecture, of being such a size that "[v]isitors cannot take in the outer form of the work in its entirety from any angle" (Zaunschirm 148). Kapoor himself is quoted as noting the circle-and-square motif, saying that it originated "about 30 years ago" in a "computer drawing of a circle changing into a square" (Tate Magazine). This is one of its aspects that appeals most to me in that the circle and square denotes some very ancient (Vitruvius) and religious (temple and church architecture) principles. I would argue that Kapoor connects with some of these same ideas, specifically

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