In this selection of key works you can encounter the powerful artworks of these two artists up close and in-depth. Highlights include Kapoor’s Svayambh,where the audience can watch the impenetrable, forty- tone block of red wax slowly squeeze past the archways within the gallery [Royal Academy of Arts: Anish Kapoor]. Others include Turrell’s The Light Inside,transcending the traditional confines of built spaces, the raised walkway guides visitors forward and gives them a sense of floating in space, while the changing cycle of illumination further invites contemplation.
Both Kapoor and Turrell involve spiritual dimensions within their works to suggest that the meaning is much more than just what you ‘see’. Kapoor’s artworks seek to understand what it is to be human through challenging and distorting our physical dimension through reflection, or confronting us with ambiguous and grand-scale monuments, developing immersive and sometimes unsettling experiences. Influenced by both his Indian heritage and western philosophy, Kapoor invites the audience to look past the confines of light and space, and to contemplate their place in the world through the use of parallels such as light and dark, body and mind as well as matter and spirit. His continual experimentation with structure and medium has led him to work with a variety of materials from carved stone, wax fiberglass and pigment has helped him establish his underpinning concept that something is ‘partially there’. “I think I’ve had three or four moments in my work over the last twenty-five years that have been real discoveries. The pigment pieces felt to me as if they were a discovery about an object and what an object can be; how an object can be and not be. Then, of course, the void pieces. The idea that if I empty out all the content and just make something that is an empty form, I don’t empty out the content at all. The content is there in a way that’s more surprising than if I tried to make a content” [Royal Academy of Arts: Anish Kapoor]. Such concept is shown in works such as “Sans titre” where the void appears endless, broadening into its depth, and seems to encroach upon the observer, controverting conventional concepts of space. Amusing at the sensory level, this work also has a philosophical domain, inducing observers to think about how they relate to things and about existence itself, constructing ideas and meaning relevant to that of the exhibition. This notion is in synthesis with Turrell, who works within a highly spiritual context. His forty-year exploration of light enables him to make thought-provoking and beautiful contemporary art works, primarily involving the exploration in light and space, speaking to the viewer without words to evoke an awakening within the mind. “ I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously plumbed with seeing” says the artist, “ like the wordless thought that comes from looking in a fire” [James Turrell]. Through the manipulation of light rather than paint or sculptural material, James Turrell introduced an art that was not an object but an experience in perception, which examines the very nature of seeing. Known for his light tunnels and light projections, Turrell is able to create shapes that appear to yield weight and mass, although they are only created with light [Mattress Factory]. This process can be regarded as seeing the act of seeing, realizing the process of perception itself. ”It’s very important to me that you see it one way at first, and then it reveals itself as something else. Then you go back to see it the initial way again” [Kapoor/Turrell: Perception of Space]. The exhibition synthesizes the works of these two contemporary artists who, through using minimalism techniques, get back to the core of existence and challenge the perception of one’s self. “We live within this reality we create, and we’re quite unaware of how we create the reality. So the work is often a general koan into how we go about forming this world in which we live, in particular with seeing” [James Turrell]. Both artists use often-simplistic shapes within the works, however they explore a deeper conceptual basis, provoking an emotional response, allowing the viewer to internally reflect throughout the entire experience.
Location of exhibition : Royal Academy of Arts, London
Bibliography
- Anish Kapoor, http://www.anishkapoor.com/ 11/9/12
- James Turrell, http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/james-turell/ 11/9/12
- Kapoor/ Turrell: Perception of Space, http://2009.field.io/process/research/art/kapoor-turrell-perception-of-space 11/9/12
- The Light Inside, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjRMs0izHSE 11/9/12
- Mattress Factory, http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=ShowExhibition&eid=35&c= 11/9/12
- National Gallery of Australia: James Turrell, http://nga.gov.au/turrell/ 11/9/12
- Royal Academy of Arts: Anish Kapoor, http://static.royalacademy.org.uk/files/anish-kapoor-education-guide-558.pdf 11/9/12
Design Aesthetic of Blog: The dark aesthetic of my blog is appropriate for the context of this exhibition. As the artists use lighting as a prominent feature within their works, I have chosen to simulate almost a dimly- lit room that is ready to be illuminated with the works of Kapoor and Turrell. The dark setting also relates to the duality concept that is evident in each artist works, in this case focusing on light and dark with the contrast in background color with the white text.
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