Anish Kapoor

Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although there are more rich blue undertones in the original. The catalogue illustration also fails to fully convey the velvety texture apparent in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals three extremely faint and unobtrusive circular surface imperfections towards the centre left of the disc.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Part of Anish Kapoor’s Wounds and Absent Objects series, Blue Circle deftly encapsulates two of Kapoor’s most distinctive artistic departures: the use of pigment and his exploration of light and space through the invocation of the void. In this work from 1996 Kapoor returns to the densely coloured pigment that was so characteristic of his early artistic practice, using the depth of the pigment to soften and modulate the solid physicality of the disc. Kapoor began using pigment after a trip to India in 1979, responding both to its personal cultural significance and the chromatic purity of its bold primary tones: "The substantia of the painting-sculptures that would result is pure pigment, which, despite its optical weight as dense colour, has a soft ethereal quality that makes the features and contours of volume and form nebulous. It dissolves considerations of the real and emphasises the power of light…Being formed of the purest of powder, the contours of each element become labile, the surface vulnerable, changeable, indefinite" (Germano Celant, Anish Kapoor, Milan 1998, p. 21).

His use of pigment, particularly in this vivid blue, recalls Yves Klein’s experiments to produce a paint that would have the same intensity as dry pigment ending with the creation of the now immortal International Klein Blue. For Klein this blue had a quality that approached ‘pure’ space and he associated it with an immaterial world beyond human perception. Kapoor both alludes to and extends this significance by combining the infinite blue with his iconic disc shape.  

Throughout his career Kapoor has consistently sought to challenge perceptual empiricism and so the physically shallow disc shape of Blue Circle is modulated by the use of pigment and the void is invoked - in this case as an imaginary space that stretches out into an implied infinite.