Anish Kapoor’s Black offers a glimpse of the world turned upside down within a contained plane. This sculpture, made of hand-polished stainless steel, represents a prime example of the artist’s interest in altering perception and inverting our sense of reality. After Kapoor began creating void pieces, he wondered if a mirrored object may lend the same visual of infinity inside of a defined space. Kapoor states that only in science had mirrors been concave, pointing to the complexity of the artist’s technical exploration of visual manipulation (Anish Kapoor Public Art Fund talk at The New School, 2017).

Just as his void works are a space full of darkness, Black’ is a space full of murky reflection. The middle section of the mirror features a protruded form, a convex dimple, which alters the concave surface of the mirror and further distorts the viewer’s sense of reality.

Kapoor says of his mirrored works: ‘The interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else, especially on concave surfaces.’ [...] ‘What happens to concave surfaces is in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I’m after.’ - I Have Nothing to Say, Anish Kapoor in an interview with Nicholas Baume, 2008, catalogue of the exhibition Anish Kapoor: Past, Present, Future, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. Published by MIT Press, pp. 118.

Kapoor positions ‘Black’ on the wall intentionally to act as a traditional painting might. Just as a painting reveals a picture plane, so too does Black. The concavity functions by projecting the focal point of the reflected image in front of the plane of the mirror, activating the space between the viewer and the work. The reflection’s discord with reality suggests the fiction of an infinite and alternative space contained within the mirror. Through pinpointed and technically precise compositions, Kapoor reveals a realm beyond the measures of reality.

Throughout his career, Kapoor has evolved different material ‘languages’. The mirror language has been the source of some of his most influential work. The iconic public installation of ‘Cloud Gate’ 2004, in Chicago, redefines space on a monumental level. The mimetic properties of the mirror works give them the power to adapt to each location as if they had appeared there of their own volition, posing as a void in space yet full of life. Black epitomises Kapoor’s involuted conception of space.

Anish Kapoor’s Black offers a glimpse of the world turned upside down within a contained plane. This sculpture, made of hand-polished stainless steel, represents a prime example of the artist’s interest in altering perception and inverting our sense of reality. After Kapoor began creating void pieces, he wondered if a mirrored object may lend the same visual of infinity inside of a defined space. Kapoor states that only in science had mirrors been concave, pointing to the complexity of the artist’s technical exploration of visual manipulation (Anish Kapoor Public Art Fund talk at The New School, 2017).

Just as his void works are a space full of darkness, Black’ is a space full of murky reflection. The middle section of the mirror features a protruded form, a convex dimple, which alters the concave surface of the mirror and further distorts the viewer’s sense of reality.

Kapoor says of his mirrored works: ‘The interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else, especially on concave surfaces.’ [...] ‘What happens to concave surfaces is in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I’m after.’ - I Have Nothing to Say, Anish Kapoor in an interview with Nicholas Baume, 2008, catalogue of the exhibition Anish Kapoor: Past, Present, Future, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. Published by MIT Press, pp. 118.

Kapoor positions ‘Black’ on the wall intentionally to act as a traditional painting might. Just as a painting reveals a picture plane, so too does Black. The concavity functions by projecting the focal point of the reflected image in front of the plane of the mirror, activating the space between the viewer and the work. The reflection’s discord with reality suggests the fiction of an infinite and alternative space contained within the mirror. Through pinpointed and technically precise compositions, Kapoor reveals a realm beyond the measures of reality.

Throughout his career, Kapoor has evolved different material ‘languages’. The mirror language has been the source of some of his most influential work. The iconic public installation of ‘Cloud Gate’ 2004, in Chicago, redefines space on a monumental level. The mimetic properties of the mirror works give them the power to adapt to each location as if they had appeared there of their own volition, posing as a void in space yet full of life. Black epitomises Kapoor’s involuted conception of space.

Anish Kapoor’s Black offers a glimpse of the world turned upside down within a contained plane. This sculpture, made of hand-polished stainless steel, represents a prime example of the artist’s interest in altering perception and inverting our sense of reality. After Kapoor began creating void pieces, he wondered if a mirrored object may lend the same visual of infinity inside of a defined space. Kapoor states that only in science had mirrors been concave, pointing to the complexity of the artist’s technical exploration of visual manipulation (Anish Kapoor Public Art Fund talk at The New School, 2017).

Just as his void works are a space full of darkness, Black’ is a space full of murky reflection. The middle section of the mirror features a protruded form, a convex dimple, which alters the concave surface of the mirror and further distorts the viewer’s sense of reality.

Kapoor says of his mirrored works: ‘The interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else, especially on concave surfaces.’ [...] ‘What happens to concave surfaces is in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I’m after.’ - I Have Nothing to Say, Anish Kapoor in an interview with Nicholas Baume, 2008, catalogue of the exhibition Anish Kapoor: Past, Present, Future, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. Published by MIT Press, pp. 118.

Kapoor positions ‘Black’ on the wall intentionally to act as a traditional painting might. Just as a painting reveals a picture plane, so too does Black. The concavity functions by projecting the focal point of the reflected image in front of the plane of the mirror, activating the space between the viewer and the work. The reflection’s discord with reality suggests the fiction of an infinite and alternative space contained within the mirror. Through pinpointed and technically precise compositions, Kapoor reveals a realm beyond the measures of reality.

Throughout his career, Kapoor has evolved different material ‘languages’. The mirror language has been the source of some of his most influential work. The iconic public installation of ‘Cloud Gate’ 2004, in Chicago, redefines space on a monumental level. The mimetic properties of the mirror works give them the power to adapt to each location as if they had appeared there of their own volition, posing as a void in space yet full of life. Black epitomises Kapoor’s involuted conception of space.

Anish Kapoor’s Black offers a glimpse of the world turned upside down within a contained plane. This sculpture, made of hand-polished stainless steel, represents a prime example of the artist’s interest in altering perception and inverting our sense of reality. After Kapoor began creating void pieces, he wondered if a mirrored object may lend the same visual of infinity inside of a defined space. Kapoor states that only in science had mirrors been concave, pointing to the complexity of the artist’s technical exploration of visual manipulation (Anish Kapoor Public Art Fund talk at The New School, 2017).

Just as his void works are a space full of darkness, Black’ is a space full of murky reflection. The middle section of the mirror features a protruded form, a convex dimple, which alters the concave surface of the mirror and further distorts the viewer’s sense of reality.

Kapoor says of his mirrored works: ‘The interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else, especially on concave surfaces.’ [...] ‘What happens to concave surfaces is in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I’m after.’ - I Have Nothing to Say, Anish Kapoor in an interview with Nicholas Baume, 2008, catalogue of the exhibition Anish Kapoor: Past, Present, Future, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. Published by MIT Press, pp. 118.

Kapoor positions ‘Black’ on the wall intentionally to act as a traditional painting might. Just as a painting reveals a picture plane, so too does Black. The concavity functions by projecting the focal point of the reflected image in front of the plane of the mirror, activating the space between the viewer and the work. The reflection’s discord with reality suggests the fiction of an infinite and alternative space contained within the mirror. Through pinpointed and technically precise compositions, Kapoor reveals a realm beyond the measures of reality.

Throughout his career, Kapoor has evolved different material ‘languages’. The mirror language has been the source of some of his most influential work. The iconic public installation of ‘Cloud Gate’ 2004, in Chicago, redefines space on a monumental level. The mimetic properties of the mirror works give them the power to adapt to each location as if they had appeared there of their own volition, posing as a void in space yet full of life. Black epitomises Kapoor’s involuted conception of space.