Anish Kapoor (b. 1954)
Born in Bombay in 1954, Anish Kapoor has lived in London since the early 1970’s when he studied at the Hornsey College of Art and the Chelsea School of Art Design.
Kapoor is widely known for his public sculpture. The large-scale work Cloud Gate is permanently installed at Millennium Park, Chicago, where it has become a recognizable symbol for the city. His Sky Mirror was exhibited at the Rockefeller Center, New York, Kensington Gardens, London, and the Grand Palais, Paris. Most recently, Kapoor’s proposal for ArcelorMittal Orbit was selected for permanent installation in the Olympic Park at London’s 2012 Olympic Games. When the work is completed, it will be the U.K.’s tallest sculpture.
Over the past twenty years, Kapoor has exhibited extensively in London and throughout the world. His solo shows have included venues such as Kunsthalle Basel, the Tate Gallery and Hayward Gallery in London, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the CAPC in Bordeaux and the Haus der Kunst in Munich. He has also participated internationally in many group shows, including at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, the Serpentine Gallery and The Royal Academy in London; Documenta IX in Kassel; Moderna Museet in Stockholm; and the Jeu de Paume and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Anish Kapoor was awarded the ‘Premio Duemila’ at the 1990 Venice Biennale, the Turner Prize Award in 1991 and a CBE in 2003. He was granted an Honorary Fellowship at the London Institute in 1997. In 2002, Kapoor received the Unilever Commission for the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, London and, in 2003, was made a Commander of the British Empire. In 2011, the artist became a Commander in the French Order des Arts et des Lettres and that same year was awarded the Japanese Praemium Imperiale.