Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down / Kensington Gardens, London

This autumn The Royal Parks and the Serpentine Gallery present a major exhibition of large scale outdoor sculptures by acclaimed London-based artist Anish Kapoor in Kensington Gardens, titled “Turning the World Upside Down”.

The exhibition showcases a series of major recent works never before shown together in London. Constructed from highly reflective stainless steel, the giant curved mirror surfaces will create illusory distortions of the surroundings and will be visible across large distances. The works on display are: Non Object (Spire) (stainless steel, 302 x 300 x 300 cm); Sky Mirror (270 cm diameter, 2009); Sky Mirror (10m diameter, 2006); C-Curve (220 x 770 x 300 cm, 2007).

The sculptures are sited to contrast and reflect the changing colours, foliage and weather in Kensington Gardens. The works appear as pure reflection of their surroundings: the sky, trees, water, wildlife and changing seasons. “The distortions in the works’ mirror-like surfaces call into question the viewers’ relationship to both the work itself and the surrounding environment.”

Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1954 and has lived in London since the early 1970s when he studied at Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art and Design. Over the past twenty years he has exhibited extensively in London and worldwide. His solo shows have included Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2009; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2008; Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2007; Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2003; Hayward Gallery, London, 1998 and Tate Gallery, London, 1990.

The exhibition is organised by The Royal Parks and the Serpentine Gallery and is generously supported by Lisson Gallery, Gladstone Gallery and anonymous donors. It is part of the Serpentine Gallery’s 40th anniversary exhibition programme and initiates a new arts strategy by The Royal Parks.

Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down at Kensington Gardens, London / UK. October, 14, 2010.

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Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down

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