Anish Kapoor At The Royal Academy of Arts

I recently received a request for more posts on London. My response to that is simply qu'ils mangent de la brioche. But not really. I am a man of the people and not one to ignore the howling masses. So, without further preamble:

One of the best things about living in London is the quantity of museums and galleries that are so generously sprinkled throughout the city - kind of like the chocolate sprinkles on the doughnuts at Greggs. PS if you haven't tried the yum yum at Greggs than you are living a pale, empty existence. Seriously. But back to the topic at hand - Since moving to London a couple of months ago I have been able to visit many different museums and galleries around the city such as the Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, and little galleries around Brick Lane to name just a few.

This past weekend, based on a strong recommendation from a trusted source, I went to the Anish Kapoor exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts. Absolutely one of the best exhibits I have seen in a long time. The piece titled Svayambh was mesmerizing because of its sheer size and like a moth to a flame, I couldn't resist touching the wax on the track. There was also another piece aptly titled Vertigo that was a collection of these large shapes of stainless steel. The way the shapes were formed resulted in these amazing reflections that actually ended up making feel like I was losing my balance a few times. Later in the evening, on the way home from a night out with the dudes, I was telling my friend about the exhibit and started to feel a little bit of vertigo again. The last piece from the exhibit that I want to mention is Shooting in to the Corner which is a great piece of mixed media where this cannon shoots large rounds of wax through a doorway into the corner of another room. Once again, the size and scope of the piece is impressive. A live web-cam of the piece can be seen here. I believe the cannon is fired approximately every 20 minutes or so.

I want to finish up by saying that the combination of the large scale pieces and the brilliant colors of the Anish Kapoor exhibit left a lasting impression on me and the way the various pieces interacted with the surrounding gallery was fascinating. If you ever get a chance to visit one of his exhibitions you will not be disappointed. I promise.