The Retrospectus

From Kapoor himself comes the revelation that it took a whole decade to make this happen. 바카라�This show in India is something we바카라�ve been thinking of for a good 10 years. It바카라�s a curious kind of homecoming. I바카라�m slightly afraid of it, to be perfectly honest바카라�not because I바카라�m afraid of being judged, but there바카라�s something wonderfully mysterious about absence,바카라� says the sculptor, who comfortably straddles the line between darling of London바카라�s trendy, avant garde modern art set and mainstream adulation. Indeed, he merges a talent for sculpture and architecture worthy of praise from a Frank Lloyd Wright or a Rodin with the wily showmanship of a Houdini or a P.T. Barnum.

Kapoor바카라�s works are mighty and usually free to view; they draw crowds that few other artists are able to attract, and are enjoyed by the intelligentsia, whole families, students, critics and the elderly alike. His fans say he toys with the usually static relationship between artists and their audiences, while his critics claim he is little more than a proponent of bling-bling, novelty 바카라�theme park바카라� art.

So what exactly will India make of this irrepressible cultural force? 바카라�We shall see,바카라� he says in his suave, impeccable English accent, sweeping his hands across the room; and looking, with his black blazer, jeans and wild, silver hair, somewhere between a poet-for-hire and a neo-classical economics professor. 바카라�The art world in India is relatively small, so we shall see if the ascetic language of the show can reach beyond that.바카라�

Our conversation unfolds during a tour of his studios, though factory would probably be a better description for a facility that has, over the years, absorbed one side of an entire south London street. From the outside, it looks like a place you would go to change your car tyres, rather than a hothouse where globally acclaimed art germinates. As Kapoor takes us around, much like Willy Wonka shepherding children on a tour of his chocolate factory, there is a sense of seeing behind the conjurer바카라�s curtain바카라�and that nothing is quite what it seems. 바카라�This is not a place of engineering, not a place of manufacturing,바카라� he says. 바카라�This is a place of experimentation. A place where art lives and an artist can find the space to live.바카라�

We see large moulds of fibreglass, giant mirrors, and sheets of shiny metal. These are after all the materials Kapoor has come to be most associated with over the past 15 years. Currently, his Sky Mirror and Spire바카라�giant mirrored sculptures reflecting their environments바카라�are part of a display in London바카라�s Kensington Gardens. In 2005, his Cloud Gate in Chicago became the most visited popular artwork in the world.

In 2002, his work Marsyas바카라�a giant, twinkling, blazing red tuba-like sculpture comprising three steel rings바카라�had thousands flocking to the Tate Modern gallery to admire the sheer audacity of the 150 m long and 35 m high work. Unsurprisingly, his India show was endlessly deferred because, as he says (see interview), he simply could not find a suitable space. The venues finally chosen바카라�Delhi바카라�s recently refurbished National Gallery of Modern Art and Mumbai바카라�s vast Mehboob film studios바카라�are perfect, Kapoor says.

바카라�The film studio is where Mother India was made, so it has a peculiar resonance with Indian audiences. It바카라�s really a distinct space,바카라� he says, 바카라�Recently, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai were filming there and the set looked like this incredible mansion. It will be a bit different this time.바카라�

That seems like an understatement, given the sheer magnitude of Kapoor바카라�s sculptures, some perhaps vaguely reminiscent of Diwali or Puja celebration behemoths, but not of anything that stands for art in an Indian context.

A Doon School alumnus, Kapoor is the son of a Hindu Punjabi hydrographer father and an Iraqi Jewish mother. His maternal grandfather was a rabbi in Bombay but Kapoor himself is a practising Buddhist. He left India at the age of 17 and studied engineering in Israel but found it was not his true calling, and arrived on British shores to attend art school in London, aged 19.

For the confluence of varied influences that Kapoor is, perhaps this Indian journey, at the ripe age of 56, is simply the next stage in his artistic evolution. As he says himself, reflecting on the artist바카라�s burden, in common with that of sharks바카라�in his eccentric way, he cites the financier George Soros as a source of inspiration바카라�to stand still is to perish. 바카라�It바카라�s a long game but reinvention is what keeps you going.바카라�

If reinvention is Kapoor바카라�s latest invention, it바카라�s fair to assume that the Indian public will benefit. Apart from several new pieces, they will also see Kapoor바카라�s iconic works such as Shooting into the Corner, a cannon that fires huge blobs of wax into a corner of the gallery; and his bright and bold early pigment works. Whatever their reaction, the artist will not be short of work anytime soon. Just last week, there was a ground-breaking ceremony for his work The Orbit, a 바카라�120 m tall Tower of Babel sort of winding stairway바카라� that will grace the London 2012 Olympic Games site. But at least for now, Anish Kapoor, citizen of Artland, is rediscovering his Indian roots.