Anish Kapoor unveils Leviathan

To step into Anish Kapoor’s Leviathan is to enter a cavernous womb-like entity, eerily lit and of epic proportions. The new site-specific sculpture plays with colour, light and form through technical engineering to manipulate the viewer's spatial awareness in its exploration of material and texture.

Kapoor follows renowned contemporary artists Christian Boltanski, Richard Serra and Anselm Keifer in taking on the Monumenta commission. On a grand scale, even for the ever-increasing size of his work, Leviathan oozes through Paris’ glass-roofed Grand Palais, filling the space with connecting orbs, which viewers are invited to enter into.

Sheer size and height are part of the immersive work that the artist aims, ‘through strictly physical means, to offer a completely new and emotional and philosophical experience.’ Such lofty themes have long been reflected on by artists, but Kapoor’s work is perhaps more accessible than most. Visually and sensorially stimulating, Kapoor works on a universal plane of affect and perception. Leviathan references both Hobbes and a biblical sea monster. Despite links to Jonah and the whale, it perhaps works best for its symbolic value: a nod to its overwhelming proportions; seemingly created and alive but otherworldly and dormant.

Kapoor has been one of the most vocal art world figures to support detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who is still being held without due legal process by the Chinese authorities. Kapoor has dedicated Leviathan to Ai. Please follow the link to sign a petition to free Ai Weiwei.

Ellen Christie