Anish Kapoor
Casa Bradesco, Sep/24 – Jan/25
It is now on display in Casa Bradesco, in Sao Paulo city, a solo show by British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor (b. 1954). Curated by Marcello Dantas, it is the second by this artist in Brazil, after 18 years. Named ‘Inflammation,’ it gathers 19 large-scale works. Some of them were created specifically for this occasion. Including the main one, ‘Blinded by Eyes, Butchered by Birth’, an inflatable that occupies huge portions of the exhibiting rooms and may be understood as a pulsating, growing organ (see the first photo). The show itself refers to this sense of the processes that go unregulated within bodies when under inflammation.
The location, literally Bradesco House, is the newest exhibition venue in town, near Paulista Avenue, where the Masp Museum is located. This show marks the opening of the 2,000-squared-metre premises, inside Matarazzo City, a humongous, magnificent and luxurious complex with a 6-star hotel, a Soho House branch, bars, and restaurants in a former maternity hospital.
According to Marcello Dantas, the curator of Bradesco House, ‘it is a multi-platform space that speaks with all arts, to celebrate the way art can inspire and create ambitious projects.’ He also stated it aims at being ‘audacious, uniting culture and creativity for all.’
Kapoor is a London-based artist, specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Award-winning, he has exhibited worldwide since the 1980s in the main galleries and museums: Tate, MoMA, and Grand Palais, to name a few. ‘Cloud Gate’ (2006), maybe his most famous piece, is featured in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
His creations vary widely, discussing presence, absence, materiality, and immateriality. Some of his works rely on deep scientific research. For instance, the vantablack, which is said to be the blackest black, is used in some of his works. In Sao Paulo and other cities abroad, he is represented by Galleria Continua.
The works on this show occupy the two floors of Bradesco House. However, ‘Blinded by Eyes, Butchered by Birth,’ the said installation, occupies both (see the second photo). It is an unstoppable force, spreading itself all over the place. It seems it will engulf the whole building. Many of the works on the show have this feeling, of something that is out of the tracks and will explode at some point. It is as if inflammation is going on in the venue.
In ‘Push/Pull’ (see the third photo), we witness an enormous bloody mass made of oil paint and wax becoming art. That is, the attrition of the sharp metal piece shapes the uneven amount of matter. In ‘Internal Object in Three Parts,’ we also see flesh, now on the walls (see the fourth photo). It is as if a body – whether human or not – was cut into pieces and its inside is now on display. Both works are in line with the others on the show that deal with inflammation, guts, tension, explosion, flesh, sickness, and body.
A mirrored work is part of a set of works within the show (see the fifth photo). They are well-finished and they employ hi-tech materials. But it does not mean they do not refer to the theme of the show. They do, but they do so by recurring in other ways, such as mirrors and new kinds of pigments. They make us feel dizzy, confused, or uncertain about ourselves and what we feel or perceive.
In ‘Untitled’ (see the sixth photo), we see a shape on the wall that intrigues us. Is it three-dimensional or not? Is there a hole in the wall or what? The effects generated by this work are partially due to its materials and pigment, it is hard for our eyes to conclude something about it. The artist deals with hi-tech elements that create aspects we are not used to.
If you wish, we from London Art Walk can plan a bespoke tour that includes this absorbing show. Within a short distance of Bradesco House, we find relevant art museums and cultural institutions showing Brazilian and international art, design and other objects.
Here there are works by the icons of twentieth century painting – Warhol, Richter, Twombly, and Picasso – and the emphasis is clearly on the strengths of past traditions. However, the Studio section includes contemporary artists whose practices engage with historical art, and there is also a spotlight on lesser-known figures from the 1950s–70s. For example, Nilima Sheikh explores the relationship between word and image, drawing on poetry, journalism, and legend to reflect environmental and political realities.
Whether new or old, traditional or innovative, loud or subtle, the works gathered in the two Frieze pavilions repeatedly speak to the twin engagements of contemporary art: to question the past and inherited traditions, while speaking to the urgent concerns of the contemporary world.
Luis Sandes for London Art Walk
October 2024