Anish Kapoor - 20th C. & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York Wednesday, November 13, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
    Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1998)
    Christie's, New York, May 11, 2016, lot 490
    Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

  • Catalogue Essay

    "[W]ith the early powder pieces, one of the things I was trying to do was to arrive at something which was as if unmade, as if self-manifest, as if there by its own volition." Anish Kapoor

    Untitled, 1997, is a quintessential example of the way in which artist Anish Kapoor continues to expand the possibilities of the sculptural object. Its perfectly circular form covered in intensely rich, blue pigment produces a supernatural effect, as if what we see is not simply an object, but an expression of a higher force. The concave shape extends from the wall into the viewer’s space, which Kapoor refers to as the “object space” (Anish Kapoor, quoted in David Anfam, Anish Kapoor, London, 2009, p. 403). This visual effect creates a different experience from viewing a traditional painting, where two-dimensional images recede in linear perspective. The viewer’s experience is further heightened by Untitled’s velvety, matte surface, which thwarts all reflection, functioning like a portal that transports the viewer to an otherworldly dimension.

    Kapoor's metaphysical ambitions place him within a lineage of abstract artists, who have investigated the spiritual properties of sculpture. The color blue, in particular, has a far-reaching genealogy in Western art history. From the rich palettes of the Old Masters to Vincent van Gogh’s melancholy Starry Night sky, 1889, the color has long been associated with a platonic ideal, culminating in Yves Klein’s patented International Klein Blue, through which the artist sought to usher in a worldwide “Blue Epoch.” In Untitled, Kapoor takes the viewer to a transcendental place where form, color and texture merge into one.

358

Untitled

signed and dated "Anish Kapoor 1997" on the reverse
pigment on aluminum
30 x 30 x 2 1/2 in. (76.2 x 76.2 x 6.4 cm.)
Executed in 1997.

Estimate
$300,000 - 400,000 

Contact Specialist
Rebekah Bowling
Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
New York
+ 1 212 940 1250

20th C. & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

New York Auction 13 November 2019