![]() ![]() Although at this point still relatively small, built to fit the gallery environment, Kapoor's sculptures are architectural. ![]() The objects seem to be coming out of the ground or the wall, the powder defining a surface, implying that there is something below the surface, like an iceberg poking out of the subconscious." These early sculptures are the first works in which Kapoor began to manipulate the viewer's perception of space and form. ![]() As Kapoor explains, " 1000 Names implies that the objects are part of a much bigger whole. In a performance influenced by his time at art school, Kapoor ritualistically laid loose pigment in red, white, yellow, and blue over the simple forms, with the pigments eventually spilling beyond the objects themselves and onto the floor or wall. Inspired by sculptor Anthony Caro's removal of the plinth, Kapoor placed his geometric sculptures directly on the ground, as an integrated part of their surrounding environment. The series consisted of arrangements of monochromatic objects set on the ground or hung from the walls. Kapoor worked on such sculptures throughout the 1980s and decided that as each and every piece was somehow related to the next, he would give them all a generic title of 1000 Names, to suggest infinity. Inspired by the rich colors of India and embracing his Eastern heritage, Kapoor used saturated pigment and geometric shapes to create groupings of sculptures that were strikingly simplistic. In this sense, Kapoor achieves a typical artist's goal, to unite metaphysical dualities including light and dark, earth and sky, mind and body, male and female, and in this case, painting and sculpture. They transform to recall Constructivist and Suprematist canvases by Kazimir Malevich as well as abstract paintings by Paul Klee. Viewed from above, Kapoor's pigment sculptures become painterly.Kapoor builds a pictorial language of symbols that translates across cultures and time. Kapoor gives the world a way to speak without words like the ancient cave painters and the Egyptian's before them, artists recognize that there is a way to communicate in which everyone can understand. His is a particularly international body of work, with momentous public sculptures placed as icons all around the globe.The color black, like an abyss in the cosmos, signifies an opening for new and unpredictable experiences and presents limitless opportunity for self-development and contemplation. Kapoor's interest in infinity, void, and endlessness is as much an interest in carving out space to consider meaning, as it is a reflection on the state of no-thing-ness, and a clearing of the mind.Red becomes the color of blood, the body, and the initiation of life's journey. Kapoor makes holes, often vulva-like, and curves to illustrate pregnancy, as the journey towards birth from our mother's womb is highlighted. Although not explicit, the beginning of life is constantly referenced. Kapoor repeatedly returns to the notion of origin.His public works are at once graceful and imposing, raising the question of how human presence impacts upon the natural environment as he seeks to create a respectful and interesting relationship between the two. Like sculptors of the same generation, including Richard Serra and Antony Gormley, Kapoor asks his audience to consider how they exist in and move through space.
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