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Mirroring Monte Carlo
2009-10-11 17:53
If you've recently visited London, you'll have been bombarded by posters for the latest Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy. So it may surprise you to know that you have to travel no further than the Casino to see one of his most inspiring works.
Born in 1954 in Bombay, the British sculptor is well known for the delight he takes in the duality of the world we live in: for Kapoor, all opposites - outer and inner, male and female, visible and invisible - are parts of a continuum, reflected in the smooth folded surfaces of many of his public works. Some, like the great Trumpet he made for the Tate Gallery, seem to enfold the very space into which the viewer walks, so that they find themselves 'part of the art'.
The same is true of his several reflective sculptures including the celebrated CloudGate in Chicago (2005-6)
But for visitors and residents of Monaco, there is the daily chance to see a very similar work, produced a year later. Donated to the Principality in 2007 by Lily Safra, Sky Mirror is a 2.5m diameter polished steel bowl which stands outside the Casino and literally 'does what it says on the tin', reflecting the sky so that, as the artist himself has said, it makes the world turn upside down, giving the illusion of bringing the sky down to street level.
If you're interested in his work and wish to see more Kapoor, the Villa Sauber owns a smaller early piece 'Pot for Her' - also a donation to Monaco - which is a good example of the artist's treatment of the interaction between space and substance.