A work of significant scale.
April 17, 2013 6:30 AM Subscribe
Ladies and gentlemen, for your pleasure please behold Leviathan [click image to advance to next image], a work by Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais in Paris. Contemporary Art Blog link here.
Some background here. Anish Kapoor previously.
Some background here. Anish Kapoor previously.
I'm more impressed with the building surrounding it, which is even bigger.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 6:35 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Old'n'Busted at 6:35 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
PVC 33.6×99.89×72.23 metres
Now that's doing art with scale.
His peice that filled the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern a few years back was AMAZING.
posted by Artw at 6:36 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Now that's doing art with scale.
His peice that filled the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern a few years back was AMAZING.
posted by Artw at 6:36 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love this guy's work, so I'm annoyed that the link isn't working for me right now. Artw... that was bloody fantastic. Marsyas. Pictures can't do it justice, but...
posted by Decani at 6:43 AM on April 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Decani at 6:43 AM on April 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Amazing how it makes everything beside it seem like a toy, including the people.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:48 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by Rock Steady at 6:48 AM on April 17, 2013
Foci, that clip is fascinating. The notion that he wanted to create a piece which felt too large for the building, and which reflected the building turned inside out, makes me see the piece in a new light. Suddenly you can see the distortions of shadows, the transformation of all the clean lines of the building...
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:50 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:50 AM on April 17, 2013
I love this stuff and I'm glad he's naming things closer to what everybody's going to call them in the end. His works - spire, sky mirror - they fit their names.
Cloud Gate? = Magic Bean
Leviathan? = Giant Thing From The Abyss (outside); Huge Monster Heart (inside)
Leviathan therefore works!
posted by Muddler at 6:53 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Cloud Gate? = Magic Bean
Leviathan? = Giant Thing From The Abyss (outside); Huge Monster Heart (inside)
Leviathan therefore works!
posted by Muddler at 6:53 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I can't decide if it's crude and obvious or inspired to be like "it's a big space, imma fill it up".
posted by DU at 6:58 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by DU at 6:58 AM on April 17, 2013
I love this. The trend towards colossal art makes me wonder what's in store for us in the future, though:
2025: Jeff Koons creates a pyramid in the Mojave Desert built by actual slaves.
2032: Using recently developed nano technology, Damien Hirst builds a scale model of a T-Rex out of solid emerald. It is entitled "The Durability of Fluids Imagined by the Godhead"
2047: Employing a device spawned from the Singularity, Christo covers the universe in a blanket made of photons and universal love.
posted by gwint at 7:01 AM on April 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
2025: Jeff Koons creates a pyramid in the Mojave Desert built by actual slaves.
2032: Using recently developed nano technology, Damien Hirst builds a scale model of a T-Rex out of solid emerald. It is entitled "The Durability of Fluids Imagined by the Godhead"
2047: Employing a device spawned from the Singularity, Christo covers the universe in a blanket made of photons and universal love.
posted by gwint at 7:01 AM on April 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
Scale! Leviathan! lol
(Seriously, thanks, the more puns this week, the better)
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:04 AM on April 17, 2013
(Seriously, thanks, the more puns this week, the better)
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:04 AM on April 17, 2013
Very cool.
The inside of it made me think of Christo's Big Air Package.
posted by Kabanos at 7:11 AM on April 17, 2013
The inside of it made me think of Christo's Big Air Package.
posted by Kabanos at 7:11 AM on April 17, 2013
DU: I can't decide if it's crude and obvious or inspired to be like "it's a big space, imma fill it up".
My art teachers did always harp on me to use the whole canvas.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:12 AM on April 17, 2013
My art teachers did always harp on me to use the whole canvas.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:12 AM on April 17, 2013
Richie Hawtin/Plastikman performed live at the Leviathan in June 2011.
Here's a playlist of the whole set.
posted by quosimosaur at 7:20 AM on April 17, 2013
Here's a playlist of the whole set.
posted by quosimosaur at 7:20 AM on April 17, 2013
Very cool. The shadows of the building, curving as they fall onto the structure - also visible from the inside - That is the sort of visually intelligent work that he always delivers.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:33 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by R. Mutt at 7:33 AM on April 17, 2013
Very cool. I love Cloud Gate, and I like this a lot.
posted by marginaliana at 7:35 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by marginaliana at 7:35 AM on April 17, 2013
His untitled parabolic mirror thing at the High Museum in Atlanta is amazing. I've stood around and watched people play with their reflections for almost an hour - it doesn't get dull. It's also acoustically fascinating - the reverb and aural reflections are as much fun as the visual.
When I first saw it, I wanted to dismiss it as a kind of children's science museum exhibit, but it grew on me quickly. You want to lean in to figure out the shapes of all the mirror segments, but it's so disorienting that you really can't parse what's going on. I'd imagine that there's something like this with Leviathan.
I want to see it.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 8:02 AM on April 17, 2013
When I first saw it, I wanted to dismiss it as a kind of children's science museum exhibit, but it grew on me quickly. You want to lean in to figure out the shapes of all the mirror segments, but it's so disorienting that you really can't parse what's going on. I'd imagine that there's something like this with Leviathan.
I want to see it.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 8:02 AM on April 17, 2013
Jeff Koons creates a pyramid in the Mojave Desert built by actual slaves.
I think Michael Heizer already has this covered (except for the slaves).
posted by CosmicRayCharles at 8:18 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think Michael Heizer already has this covered (except for the slaves).
posted by CosmicRayCharles at 8:18 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
As much as I agree with much of the critiques of big-ticket-spectacle artists and the institutional flurry that surrounds them, I have quite a softspot for Kapoor's hole body of work. (/punny)
posted by Theta States at 8:22 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by Theta States at 8:22 AM on April 17, 2013
For a second I was super excited as I'll be in paris next week - til I saw this was in 2011. . . would have been really cool to see it!
posted by ianhattwick at 11:39 AM on April 17, 2013
posted by ianhattwick at 11:39 AM on April 17, 2013
Here's a playlist of the whole set.
Continuous mix downloadable here (via mixesdb).
posted by juv3nal at 4:24 PM on April 19, 2013
Continuous mix downloadable here (via mixesdb).
posted by juv3nal at 4:24 PM on April 19, 2013
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I'm always curious what specific ideas go into the shapes of his project. The three seeming "tunnels" of this project, which can't be traversed, only seen – is there a reason behind them beyond their pure aesthetic? Was this the visual Kapoor dreamt of or had a vision of making, or is there a specific logic to them which is more apparent if you're inside the piece yourself?
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:34 AM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]