‘Orbit tower’, ‘Parsifal’ and more

The Mumbai-born, world-renowned artist, Anish Kapoor, has a lot going on for now. His ‘Orbit tower’ is set to be a centerpiece of the London Olympics. A bright red mass of captivating crisscrossing metal beams; it is like looking at the eerie Eiffel Tower on acid.

Next month his sets for ‘Parsifal’ will premier in Amsterdam - Wagner’s solemn opera dedicated to the Holy Grail. And  Barbara Gladstone’s Galleries are currently displaying his two new pieces. In an elaborate interview with James Tarmy of The Bloomberg News, he throws light on different aspects of his art and personality:

Explaining the idea behind his Orbit tower, he mentioned: “An Olympic project is kind of like a national project. Think of what the Chinese did. They had Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei build a stadium for them: politically, they were able to use good design for their own end, to justify the modernity of the Chinese state. We may all roll our eyes, but they did it and got away with it: politically, aesthetically. They hijacked the whole thing."

He pointed out: "Cecil Balmond and I have built something that doesn’t scream nationalism. It’s a completely strange, awkward object with all its elbows sticking out, and it won’t allow itself to be drawn into a kind of phallic emblem of nationhood. I’m amazed they let me build it, to be honest. I think it says a huge amount about Britain today, that it will take forward such an utterly odd project.

The world-renowned artist revealed: "I do collect early Indian art very avidly. Let’s say between 2,000 BC to about 500 AD. And amazingly, it’s still collectible. The areas I collect in are so obtuse I don’t know if anyone is really interested in them. I’m a great fan of Sarah Lucas. Whenever I can afford one, I buy a Dan Graham, because he has worked with both architecture and mirrors for such a long time and in such a sophisticated way. I think he’s hugely underrated as an artist in terms of the market."