Anish Kapoor Turning the World Upside Down
28th September 2010 – 13th March 2011.
Kensington Gardens: London, W2 2UH,
Opening Hours: Daily, 10am—6pm
www.serpentinegallery.org
Anish Kapoor is one of the most celebrated and important sculptors of the 21st century, generally known for his colossal pieces such as the 2002 Turbine Hall commission, Marsyas, and the proposed 115m spiral structure, ArcelorMittal Orbit, to be built to mark the 2012 Olympic Games. However, it is his smaller, more considered pieces that are the real gems in his artistic canon, such as the collection of four sculptures on display in Kensington Gardens under the collective name Turning the World Upside Down.
Each of the four pieces are constructed from highly reflective stainless steel, making the sculptures appear not as images in their own right but as mirror images of their surroundings. The artist himself was said to have spent weeks deciding were each of the sculptures would sit, resulting in a decision to put one of the pieces, Sky Mirror (Red), in the round pond in the centre of Kensington Gardens. It is the first of Kapoor’s works to be exhibited in water and, just like the other three pieces in this exhibition, well worth seeing.
