Lot 34
  • 34

Anish Kapoor

Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 GBP
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Description

  • Anish Kapoor
  • Untitled
  • alabaster
  • 103.2 by 123.2 by 44cm.; 40 5/8 by 48 1/2 by 17 1/2 in.
  • Executed in 2011.

Provenance

Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York 

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2011

Condition

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is warmer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition.
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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."

Catalogue Note

Anish Kapoor’s imposing sculpture Untitled is a beautiful coalescence of forms in which fine, polished surfaces are contrasted by the roughly hewn exterior of alabaster stone. On a formal level, this contrast is further emphasised by the reciprocity of circular and rectangular elements, culminating into one carved square hollow at the very centre of the sculpture. Presenting a striking exploration into the spatial and atmospheric responses of medium and material, Untitled is a magnificent phenomenon that allows the viewer to immerse into a complex simultaneity of vision, cognition, and comprehension. Executed in 2011, the present work evokes a duality of form and substance that marks the continuation of Kapoor’s perennial investigation into the notions of space and the void.

Framed by a jutted, concave circle, the carved-out rectangular square generates a suffusion of light that transforms not only the physical appearance of the stone but also its colour. In this almost alchemical process of turning alabaster into metaphorical caves, Kapoor scrutinises our perception of the physicality of material. The dense, solid stone is transfused with emptiness and light as its firm presence is transformed into an almost ephemeral appearance. On the concept of the void, Kapoor reflects: "I have always thought of it more and more as a transitional space, an in-between space. It's very much to do with time. I have always been interested as an artist in how one can somehow look again for that very first moment of creativity where everything is possible and nothing has actually happened. It's a space of becoming...’something’ that dwells in the presence of the work... that allows it or forces it not to be what it states it is in the first instance" (Anish Kapoor in conversation with Homi. K. Bhabba, in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery, Anish Kapoor, 1998, pp. 35-36).

By celebrating the organic materiality of earthly matters, Untitled perpetuates a venerable tradition of stone carving, which dates back thousands of years and reached a pinnacle of expression during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Adding to the alchemical notion of the transmutability of matter, Kapoor has developed a unique formal language that blends Western material tradition with Hindu philosophy. Kapoor’s first alabaster sculptures date back to 1987 and since then, the artist has continuously refined his craftsmanship and formal idiom. At the core of this practice lies an exploration of the void, a concept that is beautifully exposed in the present work through the juxtaposition of stone and space, substance and air, material and light. Making use of the physical properties of stone, the artist embarked on a seminal exploration of positive and negative space. By appropriating the physicality of solid mass as a means to create a sense of depth and emptiness, Kapoor set out to sculpt infinite space. As pointed out by Dr. David Anfam “rather than give his stones a countenance, Kapoor inscribes upon them the sign of emptiness: an excavated core that can be inky black… faintly polished… night-sky indigo… more illuminated… or raised to the pitch of a circular excavation glowing like a cryptic orb” (David Anfam, Anish Kapoor, London 2009, p. 100).

In its engagement with light as colour and material as space, Untitled dichotomously conjures absence as its own presence. Kapoor’s investigation into the infinite possibilities offered by his chosen material absorbs the viewer into a cosmos of cerebral and spiritual discourse that induces meditative contemplation.