Page 135 - Visionaries June 2024

Lot No. 110
Anish Kapoor
b. 1954

MOUNTAIN
30.7 x 57 x 23.6 in (78 x 145 x 60 cm)
Acrylic on fibreboard
1996

` 60,00,000 - 80,00,000 | $ 73,171 - 97,561

Provenance: Property from a collection based in New Delhi.

Illustrated are multiple views of the presented lot

Mountains have been a long-standing preoccupation for Anish
Kapoor, starting in the 1980s and the 1990s. The colour and scale
of the works draw attention to their symbolism. The presented lot is
part of this prolific series featuring several different mountains he has
created. Executed using acrylic on fibreboard in 1996, the work titled
‘Mountain’ is an extraordinary display of Kapoor’s artistic skills and his
interest in playing with dimension and perspective. An impressive
example of the engineering and precision behind every work by
the artist, the sculpture features layers of ridges, meticulously put
together to create an undulating mountain. The work, although
simplistic and serene, is grand in its details, evidence of Kapoor’s
fascination with perception and optics. The work mimics forms
made by geological erosion caused naturally, and the imperfect
construction lends to the awe-inspiring visual effect.

Among the several works belonging to the Mountain series, the artist
has created a large-scale cast iron mountain for the Tachikawa Art
Project in Japan. This was his first public commission, executed in
1995. He also created a colossal work titled ‘Mountain’ in 2001 that
plays with negative space, an enduring fascination for the artist. A
public installation also called ‘Mountain’ resides at Simcoe Park in
Toronto, Canada. The large-scale work was created by Kapoor using
aluminium and was inspired by the geology of the Canadian West.