The recent drawings in this exhibition focus on the void – a central motif for Kapoor – and the tensions between light and dark, inside and outside permeate these works. Kapoor’s forms turn themselves inside out with brushstrokes that richly and energetically impregnate each drawing with vibrant hues, as if to negate the idea of an outer surface, inviting the viewer to contemplate their inner depths. In these drawings, his unique sense of colour as visceral substance, reverberates through biological and architectural form, as openings, cracks, windows and passages fade into impenetrable oblivion. The works are saturated with raw, emotional intensity, yet at their core, they evoke a transcendent light, a luminous dawn emerging amidst the forms.
The energetic application of pigment elicits a sense of movement and raw elemental force, typical of Kapoor’s exploration of light, depth, and emotion. Much of Kapoor's oeuvre draws the viewer into an introspective engagement with colour, form, and space; here we see energetic compositions dominated by a central dark void, embedded in a glowing landscape, or reversely a glowing void within dark mountainous form. The intense interplay between the background, foreground, and interiority suggests an infinite depth that pulls the viewer inward. The surrounding hues of blue, earthy green and red strokes evoke organic vitality, as if the void is emerging from, or dissolving into, a landscape.
In one work, a bold stroke of black penetrates a vivid red interior, grounding the composition with a dramatic contrast that recalls a void, shadow, or abyss. The swirling lines and layered textures suggest both chaos and energy, a reflection of Kapoor’s fascination with the elemental forces of nature and the dichotomy of light and darkness, creation and destruction.
This presentation follows the artist’s major solo exhibition in Beijing at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Museum and Taimiao Art Museum of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, by the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing (2019). This exhibition presented some of the artist’s most significant and celebrated works, featuring powerful, self-generated installations and geometrical sculptures. It also follows a solo presentation at Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MoCAUP) in 2021, which spanned the full breadth of his practice and presented some of the most celebrated works of the last thirty-five years, from his iconic wax sculptures, paintings and mirror works, to his models for past and potential architectural works.
安尼施·卡普尔 (Anish Kapoor) 于里森画廊上海空间举办的首次个展呈现一系列近期纸本水粉绘画。卡普尔以其对材料的严谨实验，和唤起不可思议的感官体验的能力而闻名全球，他的作品将雕塑和绘画实践巧妙融合，打破了风格流派的界域。作为奠定英国和全球当代艺术史的重要人物，他的创作扭曲物理空间，探寻形成视觉感知的神秘过程。本次展出的这组新作色彩丰富——从深沉的紫色和蓝色，到如火焰般绚烂的黄橙红三色，未知的力量仿佛从莫名的黑暗之中浮现。
展出的作品聚焦卡普尔实践的核心主题虚空，画面中弥漫着明与暗、内与外的张力。卡普尔以充满力量和感染力的笔触为每件作品注入鲜活的色调，画作似乎在否定外在表面此概念的同时，转而邀请观者思考其内在的深度。独特的用色传递出肉身脏腑的深邃感，近似自然生物和建筑的形态仿若开口、裂缝、窗棂和管道，在难以穿透的境界中逐渐消解殆尽。一种直接且强烈的情绪充斥着作品，在画面的中心激起了超脱的光芒，一丝迸发而出的明亮曙光。
卡普尔对颜料的运用极富能量和活力，唤醒了一种动态感和未经修饰的原始力量，这正是艺术家在实践中对光线、深度和情感探索的典型体现。卡普尔的作品常常吸引观者从内省的角度出发，与色彩、形式和空间密切互动。展出的作品充满生气，画面中央大多都有一个黑暗虚空的形态，并嵌于散发着光芒的背景中；亦或相反，闪烁着光芒的虚空之相在漆黑的山形中隐现。背景、前景和内部空间之间的强烈交互暗示着无限的深度，将观者向内拉扯。周围的蓝色、土绿和红色笔触激起蓬勃的生命力，仿佛空相正从景观中跃出、消亡。
有的作品中的粗放黑色笔触穿透了画面中心的鲜艳红色，通过鲜明的对比为构图奠定了基础，令人联想到虚空、阴影或深渊。有的则以漩涡状的线条和层叠的纹理暗示混沌与能量，映射出卡普尔对自然界四大原力以及光明与黑暗、创造与湮灭二元对立的兴趣。
此前在2019年，卡普尔曾在北京中央美术学院美术馆和位于故宫旁的太庙艺术馆举办大型个展，重点展出了艺术家创作生涯中最为重要的作品，包括极具震撼力的自生式装置和几何雕塑等。2021年，艺术家在深圳市当代艺术与城市规划馆呈现的个展完整地回顾了他的艺术实践，展出了他过去35年里享富盛名的创作，包括标志性蜡像雕塑、绘画、镜面作品，和新旧建筑模型。2022年，卡普尔的个展为里森画廊北京空间揭幕。
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