A day with Anish Kapoor

Anish is perhaps the most famous and successful artist of Indian origin living abroad, writes Pavan K Varma in Hyde Park Corner.

For a genius Anish Kapoor is remarkably unassuming. I met him at his studio last week and was quite bowled over by the sheer creative energy that suffuses him and his place of work. Of course I was aware of his talents and his reputation. But even if both of these are deservedly larger than life, Anish himself is not. Not very tall, he has a boyish demeanour that belies his 50 years and a disarming smile that immediately made me feel welcome.

He had come to his office from his studio next door, and was still wearing overalls smattered with paint. We spent some time looking at his paintings and drawings, and then went down to his studios. As can be imagined these are huge working sheds where some of his works are made and others are designed and planned. Once inside, it is as though one has entered a different world where the rules of space and form and substance that we take as sacrosanct have no relevance any more.

Anish sculpts form in a manner never done before. Many of his works are monumental in size. Marsyas, his sculpture for the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, is a good example. The work filled the vast hall entirely and left viewers gaping at the sheer audacity of the artist’s vision. Another giant work in polished steel in the form of a huge, cosmic oval has become a landmark in Chicago. A project in the making consists of two terminals for the Underground in Naples. I saw a model of the gigantic work, and was left gaping at the novelty of the design that seemed to allow the underground to seamlessly peel into the open.