Anish Kapoor Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity , 2015 P.V.C and steel7.3 x 7.3 x 7.3m Photo Tadzio ? Anish Kapoor, 2019. All rights reserved

As one of the world’s most influential artists, Anish Kapoor is invited to hold a double solo exhibition at CAFA Art Museum and the Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum in Beijing in Autumn 2019. This will be the first large-scale solo exhibition of this prestigious British artist in China.

Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)’s President Fan Di’an will be the academic adviser for this exhibition, with CAFA’s Vice President Su Xinping and Serpentine Galleries’ Artistic Director Hans Ulrich-Obrist being the artistic directors, and CAFA Art Museum’s Director Zhang Zikang being the chief curator. The exhibition is co-organized by CAFA Art Museum, the Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum and Anish Kapoor’s Studio, and mainly sponsored by CAFA and Beijing General Labor Union.

On May 14, during the opening ceremony of Anish Kapoor’s exhibition in Lisson Gallery, London, Sir Kapoor and CAFA Art Museum Director Zhang Zikang announced the artist’s solo exhibition, which will begin in October, 2019. It will be the first time that many Kapoor’s series works are exhibited in China. According to Director Zhang, Mr. Kapoor, as a reputable contemporary art master, creates artworks with strong on-site emotional appeal, while conveying an “oriental spirit” that Chinese audience feel specially attached to. India and China, as two historically profound civilizations, have shared and accumulated thoughts and values via age-old exchanges. This is fully shown in Mr. Kapoor’s artistic concepts and practices. Like an old Chinese saying “Stones from Other Hills May Serve to Polish the Jade of This Hill” goes, Mr. Kapoor’s exhibition will inspire Chinese people on how to transfer rich essence of traditional Chinese thoughts into contemporary forms.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, located in close proximity to the Forbidden City, was once taken by emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties as a place for ancestor worships. Now, as a public exhibition venue, it attracts nearly 10 million visitors every year. The Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum is composed of substantial architectures and enclosed courtyard, emitting a magnificent and solemn atmosphere. CAFA is the only institution of higher education for fine arts under the administration of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Its museum is the first professional exhibition hall established after new China was founded. It was renamed as CAFA Art Museum in 1998, and got its new building designed by Pritzker Laureate Arata Isozaki in 2008. It is one of the Key National Museums of China. The upcoming Anish Kapoor exhibition in China will kindle unprecedented dialogues between the artist’s artworks and CAFA Art Museum’s contemporary space and the magnificent historical architectures of the Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum.

The exhibition will be presented by Zhonghong Chuangyi (Beijing) Culture Development Co., Ltd. Lisson Gallery also offers special support to the exhibition.

About The Artist
Anish Kapoor was born in Mumbai, India in 1954 and lives and works in London. He studied at Hornsey College of Art, London, UK (1973–77) followed by postgraduate studies at Chelsea School of Art, London, UK (1977–78). Recent solo exhibitions include Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2018); ‘Descension’ at Public Art Fund, Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, New York, NY, USA (2017); Parque de la Memoria, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2017); MAST Foundation, Bologna, Italy (2017); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, Mexico (2016); Couvent de la Tourette, Eveux, France (2015); Chateau de Versailles, France (2015) and The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow, Russia (2015). Anish Kapoor represented Britain at the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990 with Void Field (1989), for which he was awarded the Premio Duemila for Best Young Artist. Kapoor won the Turner Prize in 1991. Large scale public projects include Marsyas (2002), Tate Modern, London; Cloud Gate (2004) in Millennium Park, Chicago, IL, USA; Temenos (2010) in Middlesbrough, U.K; Leviathan (2011), Grand Palais, Paris; Orbit (2012) in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London and Ark Nova (2013) the world’s first inflatable concert hall in Japan.

Courtesy of the Artist and CAFA Art Museum.