Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the NAC has inaugurated Anish Kapoor’s first ever exhibition in India. The exhibition is being held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi and at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai. This is the biggest exhibition of Anish Kapoor’s work ever shown overseas.
The exhibition is being presented by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and National Gallery of Modern Art India, British Council and Lisson Gallery, in association with Louis Vuitton and the Tata Group.
Kapoor’s unique style and Indian heritage have combined to make him one of the most engaging and distinctive artists in the world and the exhibition will be the first ever showcase of his work in the country of his birth. The exhibition will be organised over two sites in New Delhi and Mumbai and is the largest and most ambitious exhibition project ever to be presented. It features work and sculptures spanning the breadth of the artist’s career, from his early pigment-based sculptures of the 1980s to his most recent works in polished steel and in wax.
The exhibitions will be displayed in two venues: the newly renovated NGMA, New Delhi (Anish Kapoor show will be the first major exhibition to be held in the gallery’s newly constructed Exhibition Hall); and the Mehboob Studios, Bandra, Mumbai. Each exhibition will focus on a different strand of Kapoor’s practice, with each show complementing the other to form an overall picture of the diversity and energy within his oeuvre. Both exhibitions will feature works which were included in the recent, record-breaking exhibition of Kapoor’s work at the Royal Academy, London, which attracted over 275,000 visitors in less than three months.
“I am delighted that what we had been dreaming of for the past nine years has finally come to fruition. The Kapoor exhibition is one of the largest projects we have done since the Picasso exhibition in 2001, not just in its scale of the actual works, but also in terms of the international stature of the artist, including partnerships amongst various organisations, and its outreach,” Prof. Rajeev Lochan, Director of the NGMA said.
Ruth Gee, Regional Director British Council says, “We are delighted to have played a part in creating this milestone exhibition in Delhi and Mumbai. It is a proud moment in our cultural relationship with India”.
The Anish Kapoor exhibitions will coincide with the India Art Summit, which runs from 20-23 January 2011, and attracts approximately 40,000 visitors annually.
Image: Anish Kapoor, Past, Present, Future 2006, wax and oil-based paint, 345 x 89 x 445 cm
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