Artist Anish Kapoor presents works old and new in London gallery return

LONDON - British artist Anish Kapoor presents bold, large new works alongside some of his older sculptures at an upcoming exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery, in a return to the space that held his first solo UK show nearly 30 years ago.

On display are shiny sculptures made with mirrored steel or void-like black, visceral paintings and gory bloody pieces as well as large-scale installations the 72-year-old Mumbai-born Turner Prize winner is known for.

These include 2022's "Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto", a massive red and black mass hanging from the ceiling.

Among the new works, an expansive vivid red pigment piece called "Ha Makom" and "All of Nothing", a huge, inflated red PVC membrane that greets audiences as soon as they walk in.

“I've explored or looked to explore that question of the object and the non-object and how they live with each other. It's obvious that red must feature in that equation, because in a sense, all of that interior is red," Kapoor told Reuters of his use of red in his works.

"Red, of course, is at one level a colour of celebration, but it's also a colour of deep darkness, of terror, of fear. As we know, the sublime is wonder and fear together. So somehow the two live with each other and I'm interested in what red does in that, in that, in those conditions.”

The Hayward Gallery, part of the Southbank Centre overlooking the River Thames, was the first in the UK to hold a major survey of Kapoor's works in 1998.

“It's a coming home... in many ways... 28 years is quite a long time," Kapoor said.

"What I've tried to do is take on what I did before and take it to...some other place."

The exhibition runs from June 16 to October 18.

(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; editing by Barbara Lewis)