Anish Kapoor Stainless Steel Sculptures @ Lisson Gallery in Milan

For his first exhibition in Milan’s Lisson Gallery, Anish Kapoor presents a new series of fourteen steel sculptures, stainless and polished, twisted through an unspecified number of degrees. These small scale twists - thirty centimeters by height - are shown for the first time as an entire group, placed together in a room, interacting with one another and with the public by creating fluid reflections, which disrupt and dismantle any stable imagery: their original pre-twisted form becomes impossible to detect and the space around them turns into a surreal mixture of reality and reflection, continuously changing according to one’s vision and perspective . The artist has referred to similar sculptures as “non – objects”, losing themselves almost completely because of their unidentifiable geometry and their highly reflective material. One larger twist (100 cm) is placed outside on the terrace. Just like in some of his best –known works such as the Cloud Gate in Chicago’s and the C-Curve at the Chateau De Versailles, Anish Kapoor once again explores the idea of the curve. In this particular case his twisted forms somehow provide an optical vision of the universe by warping the light on its way through space and tilting our intuition to one side, presenting to the viewer a distorted vision of reality which is totally subjective to his point of view. The exhibition will be on view until July 22nd at Lisson Gallery Milan (via Zenale 3, Milan). text and photographs by Sarah Kaufman