Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor was made a patron of Humanists UK for her exploration of the human condition through the arts.

Sculptor

Born in Mumbai in 1954, Anish Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the 1970s and is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. He represented Britain in the 1990 Venice Biennale, when he was awarded the Premio Duemila Prize. In 1991 he received the Turner Prize and in 2002 received the Unilever Commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. Notable public sculptures include: Cloud Gate, Millennium Park, Chicago; Sky Mirror exhibited at the Rockefeller Center, New York in 2006, KensingtonGardens in 2010 and now in Nottingham, and ArcelorMittal Orbit, commissioned as a permanent artwork for the London Olympic Park and completed in 2012.

"Kapoor sees his work as being engaged with deep-rooted metaphysical polarities; presence and absence, being and non-being, place and non-place and the solid and the intangible. Throughout Kapoor's sculptures his fascination with darkness and light is apparent; the translucent quality of the resin works, the absorbent nature of the pigment, the radiant glow of alabaster and the fluid reflections of stainless steel and water. Through this interplay between form and light, Kapoor aspires to evoke sublime experiences, which address primal physical and psychological states." (Lisson Gallery website)

Anish Kapoor was somewhat vague when asked in an interview, “You have deep links with Humanists UK. What's up with that?”:

I'm not willing to argue for any cause – that would make me a doctrinaire, which is not exactly what Humanists UK seeks out to do. I'll give you one example of how humanism or not being a doctrinaire helps. When you go into a studio as an artist, you should not go in to do what you want to do. You should go in to do what you don't want to do, to explore possibilities. I like to be open to poetic revelations.

See also:
http://www.anishkapoor.com/
http://www.lissongallery.com/#/artists/anish-kapoor/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor