ART CITIES:N.York- Anish Kapoor

For more than 35 years, Kapoor has been among the most inventive and influential artists of his generation. He has created compelling and poetic bodies of work using a range of materials that include raw pigment, stone, stainless steel, synthetic polymer, resin, and wax. He also has a longstanding interest in the sculptural potential of water.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo Public Art Fund Archive

The Public Art Fund commissioned Anish Kapoor to create “Descension”, a continuously spiraling funnel of dark water  to Brooklyn. Sited at pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, the 8 meter in diameter Installation creates a striking juxtaposition to the adjacent East River, continuing Kapoor’s long-standing interest in the destabilization of the physical world. The spiraling whirlpool is treated with an all-natural black dye, creating a seemingly endless hole, into which visitors are invited to carefully peer. “Descension”, presented for the first time in the United States, represents a breakthrough with this inherently challenging, slippery substance. In a recent interview with Dezeen, in which Kapoor called for artists to engage with issues such as nationalism and Donald Trump, the artist stated that “Descension” has an association with American politics. “In New York at this moment, yes descension! I toyed with the idea of trying out the title Descension in America to be more particular and to point harder at the current state of things, but I don’t think I need to”. The work was first displayed as a smaller, interior work at India’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale, following which it travelled to Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, and later to a solo exhibition at Versailles. Like all of Kapoor’s works, the work is the result of intensive research into material and process, exploring the potential of water to behave in surprising ways. The continuous swirling motion of this liquid mass converges in a central vortex, as if rushing water is being sucked into the earth’s depths. We thus experience Kapoor’s abstract form on multiple levels. Its powerful physicality has a visceral and mesmerizing impact. “Descension” also stimulates the imagination and suggests a social, cultural, and even mythic dimension.

Info: Curator: Nicholas Baume, Pier One, Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, Duration: 3/5-10/9/17