Sydney in awe of Anish

By Vijay Badhwar

Art is limitless. Be it its size, variety or expression. It is beautiful or represents ugly, subtle or gross, real or abstract.

Art has also evolved over time. Whereas in the past it was static, represented through a snapshot, a scene or a portrait, now it represents ideas, feelings, ever changing movements allowing interpretations by the viewer rather than the expressions imposed by the artist. There is the fourth dimension added to art – that of time ”“ and its each static form has become ephemeral.

A large concave mirror outside the recently completed Museum of contemporary Arts (MCA) marks Anish Kapoor’s presence at the Museum. What beautiful art than the moving skyscape in the mirror, always fresh, real as well as dynamic. It creates its own artwork as with the mind forming its own reflections of the world around it.

There are more mirrors inside, an S-curve and a C-curve, not entirely different to the mirror mazes we have all been at the fairs, only that we look at these art pieces seriously and have our own interpretations of our inner self. On display is also the marriage of art and engineering – two distant fields ”“ showcased with mirrors with double curvatures mating seamlessly at adjacent surfaces.

There is normally an intended relationship of the art form with the viewer. But in Anish Kapoor’s work the scale is sometimes so imposing that it is difficult to resolve the relationship. ”˜My Red Homeland’, housed separately from rest of the works, is an example of fluidity of thoughts going round in circles without closure.

 

Anish Kapoor is a big name in the art world: his gigantic red trumpet on the side of a hill in Auckland, Dismemberment, and the Arcelor Mittal Orbit sculpture at the London Olympics site are his amazing works. They are too overwhelming to form a relationship with the viewer. Rather, the works engage in looking at the infinite beyond the temporal, indeed an experience of the third kind.

 

 

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