Anish Kapoor

Lisson Gallery, London

Bregenz, Kunsthaus, Anish Kapoor: My Red Homeland, 2003, pp. 21, 52, 58-59 & 90, illustrated in colour
Kunzselaü, Museum Wurth, Epoche und Echo: English Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, 2005, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although it fails to fully capture the wide range of fuchsia and purple tones that vary according to light and viewing perspective in the original. The illustration fails to convey the the three-dimensional nature and concave shape of the work. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is an area of retouched abraison along the extreme centre left edge (9 o'clock) and to the extreme lower right edge (4 o'clock). There is a minute loss to the extreme upper right edge (2 o'clock) and one along the extreme lower edge (5 o'clock). The artist has agreed to oversee the correction of this minor imperfection.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

"Here we are in the realm of the unlimited, the infinite, a kind of vortex that engulfs and annuls things, a reflection that breaks and overturns the discontinuity of being, enabling it to attain an absolute purity and perfection."  Germano Celant, Anish Kapoor, Milan 1998, p. 38

The huge concave sphere of Anish Kapoor's sublime Alba, 2003 emanates a profound warmth and  instantly enshrouds the viewer into a welcoming yet slightly disconcerting infinite space. The work is affectionately titled after his daughter and here the luscious hues of scarlet, fuschia and amethyst collide with each other to create a deeply mesmerising 'skin' which at once reflects the outside world whilst also drawing the viewer into its interminable void. Fashioned from the heavy industrial material of stainless steel, Kapoor here makes profoundly sensitive light of the material as its harmonious balance suspends weightlessly on the wall.

At a height of 230cm., the work is slightly taller than the average person and there is instantly a human relationship. Much as Yves Klein made his first investigations into the Void in the late 1950s, Kapoor's best work always employs human dimensions as the origin from which to discover a material space which is beyond our senses. Eternally divided between inner and outer realms, Kapoor's Alba fuses the world of the viewer with that of its object self. Kapoor has developed Klein's early investigations and expanded them into a more sophisticated sculptural form. Its concave form activates the transformative properties of the polished steel, capturing the eternally changing natural world within its fixed, artificial grasp.  The act of looking places the viewer as the link uniting the two - a dialectic function usually performed in Kapoor's work by the hollow or void itself.  Compared to the impenetrable darkness of his earlier void works of the late 1980s and early 90s, Alba's forever reflecting luminosity is affirmed by its environment.  Immaculate in surface and form and existing as if self-created, elements of light, space and colour all fuse into a new quality of the transcendence of the material.

This sunken, metallic abyss of light evinces one of the key conflicts in art that permeates all Kapoor's work: that of the issue of balance between the visible and the spiritual; between the concrete material of a work and its idea; between the form and the void.