Artifical Gallery

Anish Kapoor (born 1954) is a sculptor.

Kapoor was born in Bombay in India and moved to Britain in 1972. There he studied art first in Hornsey and later in Chelsea. He has lived in Bristol since then, though frequently makes trips back to India, and has acknowledged that his work is inspired by both western and eastern culture.

In the early 1980s, Kapoor emerged as one of a number of British sculptors working in a new style and gaining some international recognition with their work (the others included Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Anthony Gormley, Bill Woodrow and Richard Wentworth).

Kapoor's pieces are often simple, curved forms, usually monochrome, and frequently brightly coloured. Powdered pigments sometimes cover the works and sometimes lie on the floor around the works as well. This practice is inspired by the mounds of brightly coloured pigments Kapoor saw on his visits to India.

From the end of the 1990s, Kapoor produced a number of very large works, including Taratantara (1999), a 35 metre-tall piece installed in the Baltic Flour Mills in Gateshead before renovation began there, and Marsyas (2002), a large work of steel and polyvinyl chloride installed in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern. In 2000, one of Kapoor's works, Parabolic Waters, consisting of rapidly rotating coloured water, was shown outside the Millennium Dome in London.

Over the past twenty years he has exhibited extensively in London and all over the world. His solo shows have included venues such as Kunsthalle Basel, Tate Gallery and Hayward Gallery in London, Reina Sofia in Madrid, CAPC in Bordeaux and most recently Haus der Kunst in Munich. He has also participated internationally in many group shows including the Whitechapel Art Gallery, The Royal Academy and Serpentine Gallery in London, Documenta IX in Kassel, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Jeu de Paume and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Anish Kapoor was awarded the ‘Premio Duemila’ at the Venice Biennale in 1990, the Turner Prize Award in 1991 and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the London Institute in 1997 and a CBE in 2003. He is represented by the Lisson Gallery, London, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York and Galleria Continua and Galleria Massimo Minini, Italy.

NEWS (March 2010):

A spiralling sculpture designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor has been chosen as the monument to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The 115m tall piece, named the ArcelorMittal Orbit, will be placed in the Olympic Park and will be 22m higher than New York's Statue of Liberty.
The £19.1m design incorporates the five Olympic rings and will offer visitors panoramic views of London.
London Mayor Boris Johnson revealed plans for the tower on Wednesday.
"I am deeply honoured to be invited to undertake this challenging commission," Kapoor said.
"I am particularly attracted to it because of the opportunity to involve members of the public in a particularly close and personal way. It is the commission of a lifetime."
The artist will work with leading structural designer, Cecil Balmond of engineering firm Arup.
Revealing plans for the tower, London Mayor Boris Johnson said ''Long after the Games are over, our aim is to have a stunning spectacle in east London that will be recognised around the world."
"Anish Kapoor's inspired art work will truly encapsulate the energy and spirit of London during the Games and, as such, will become the perfect iconic cultural legacy."
Steel company ArcelorMittal - owned by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal - will fund up to £16m of the project with £3.1m provided by the London Development Agency.