Though born in 1954 in Mumbai, India, Anish Kapoor has been based in the UK since 1973. He works with everything from sculpture and installations to painting and drawing, and he uses a wide range of materials such as pigment, wax, granite, marble, limestone and polished stainless steel.

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1. At the heart of Kapoor’s practice is the void. An absence. A gloomy or alluring nothingness. A depth impenetrable to the eye that sees. Kapoor explores the invisible abyss, the obscure interior of his haunting works. That place which remains hidden. The works themselves are of course visible, concrete in their materiality, in their massive presence, yet, nevertheless, something, their essence perhaps, remains unseen. This puzzling of the senses, the space between what we are able to see and what we are able to sense, lies at the very core of Kapoor’s enigmatic artmaking.

2. Kapoor’s name is also inextricably linked to Vantablack, a special type of pigment developed back in 2014, known as the blackest black colour. Vantablack is a material capable of absorbing 99,8 percent of all light (since then, an even blacker colour, capable of absorbing 99,995 percent, has been invented by a team of researchers at the MIT). Kapoor began experimenting with the material in 2014 and has over time perfected his use of the pigment. In fact, he became so enthusiastic about the material that he has secured the exclusive rights to use the pigment for painting and sculpture.

3. Finally, Kapoor is not a man you will get to hear speak widely and in depth about his art. On the contrary, Kapoor himself has stated on several occasions, including in an interview with director Marie Nipper, that he as an artist has nothing to say about his works. Instead, he wants to leave it up to the individual, to the personal and sensual encounter with the works to form an impression and thereby an experience of his art.

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References:
Sarah Cascone, ”Anish Kapoor’s Controversial Vantablack Works Finally Make Their U.S. Debut. See Them Here, Artnet, November 9, 2023.
Kaleem Aftab, “Anish Kapoor: I Have Nothing to Say”, The Talks, April 15, 2015.