The MCA staff laughed when they heard us squealing…”Look how skinny we are in this mirror!”
I think…that when you’re blessed with friends who have extensive experience in a particular field, you should jump at any offer they make to share their knowledge with you.
So when my dear friend Roz MacAllan, former gallery owner and long time art collector, offered to visit the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the MCA with me, I wasn’t about to let sluggish public transport or heavy rain stop me. We met at the very cool MCA gift shop, then headed to the top floor café for a long and chatty lunch, before setting out to explore the exhibition.
And it was amazing.
So much so that I actually considered not blogging about it, because there was simply no way my photos could do it justice. Often I find contemporary art moving and/or thought-provoking, but in this instance, I found it exhilarating and great fun. And that’s because nothing was quite what it seemed to be (which in turn made it difficult to capture the experience in photos).
On the ground floor is Kapoor’s My Red Homeland (2003) – an enormous dynamic sculpture created from 25 tons of paraffin wax and oil pigment paint. A huge motorised arm rotates slowly, cutting a swathe through the wax, constantly and gradually reshaping it as it goes…
The artist offers very little commentary on his pieces (often we couldn’t even locate name plates), preferring to allow viewers to come to their own conclusions. To me, the wax resembled butchered flesh…
Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere! Fun, large, tricky mirrors, which incorporated the observer as part of the artwork, which in turn meant that every piece was different depending on who was viewing it and from what angle…
My favourite piece of the exhibition, with the mirror shards cut and rejoined at a variety of different angles, creating ever changing reflections…
Here I am…
…and here’s Roz…
This piece intrigued us – it’s hard to see from the photo, but depending at the angle from which it was viewed, a skin seemed to appear over the surface of the inverted dome…
Several of Kapoor’s artworks explore depth and colour perception – this one appeared to my eyes to be a square of red velvet. In fact, it’s a one metre deep void, but despite my standing there staring at it for nearly ten minutes (from nearly every angle), I just couldn’t perceive any depth to it (please forgive the very ordinary photo)…
The diversity of Kapoor’s pieces was fascinating – Roz could see his signature touch on all of them, but I found this one quite different. It’s an early piece entitled 1000 Names, and appears to reflect the artist’s Indian heritage in its use of colours and shapes…
This large red lens magnified the image on the other side – I adored the Stargate feel to it…
Memory is an enormous (24 ton) Cor-Ten steel structure, which completely filled the room it was displayed in. From an adjoining corridor, you can look into the cavernous interior of the structure…
Mirrors, and more mirrors! These pieces, entitled S-Curve (front of photo) and C-Curve (back), were a huge hit with the children, with different sections of each piece offering a quirky and slightly different reflection…
As I left the MCA, the rain eased up just long enough for me to take a photo of the Sky Mirror, one of Kapoor’s most celebrated artworks. The ten metre mirror reflects an inverted image of the sky, but on that overcast day, it seemed to glow like a beacon, sending signals into space (I was being fanciful, I know, but the afternoon had left me feeling quite euphoric)…
Sydneysiders, if you haven’t yet been to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the MCA, I hope you’ll get a chance to go before it closes on the 1st of April. Entry costs $20 for adults, and it’s definitely money well spent!
Museum of Contemporary Art
140 George St
The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000
10am – 5pm Mon – Wed, Fri – Sun
10am – 9pm Thursdays
Website: Anish Kapoor at the MCA
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
What a great day out and how wonderful you went with a friend who would be so knowledgeable regarding contemporary art. I love how skinny you are! I will try to get to this exhibition because I understand how you felt about your images not being able to do the pieces justice – you just have to be there xx
Charlie, it’s a great way to spend the afternoon. Anish Kapoor is legendary, and we’re very fortunate to have the chance to view his work here in Sydney! Truly, I just couldn’t get the photos – particularly not the iPhone ones – to do it justice. :)
What a fun exhibit! Sure glad you decide to blog about it. Thanks for taking me along.
Norma, thank you! I believe Kapoor’s work is often displayed in NY, so hopefully you’ll get a chance to catch them at some time! x
Thanks. Will check the MOMA calendar.
I love when you go on field trips with your blog, Celia!
This has been euphoric even second hand- thanks so much!
Thank you darling. Roz and I had the best time! :)
Great descriptions, Celia, I particularly like that mirror that makes you look skinny. I want one of those:)
Glenda, we joked about filling our houses full of mirrors that made us look skinny. And then never going out ever again! :D
How lovely to spend an afternoon full of fun and culture Celia, there’s nothing as good as a good friend :) I do like that mirror, I wonder where I can get one?
Wouldn’t it be great, Becca? Would do wonders for self-esteem.. ;-)
Oh how I would love to see! Mind you, not necessarily to ‘love’! I would call this ‘interesting’ rather than ‘stirring’! But thank you so much for the walk-thru’. At least when friends come from the ‘Big Smoke’ and talk about this I won’t quite be the orphan child :) !
Eha, I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It was great to see the kids having so much fun as well! :)
I wouldn’t mind having a mirror that makes me look skinny! So many mirrors! There are some pretty neat ones there. Interesting display. Thanks for sharing!
Manuela, thanks for reading along! I wish I could have taken a photo of the whole gallery floor – it was a wet rainy day, but the floor was alight with colour and mirrors and smiling visitors. Such a lovely way to spend an afternoon! :)
I am also thrilled that you decided to blog about it, and URGE you to blog about anything that you are interested in!
I am not too fond of modern art, not sure why – I think I have some kind of an old fashioned self that prevents me from opening my eyes to some things. Silly. But I am not done with myself yet, you know… ;-)
Sally, we all have different tastes! I’m not a big fan of traditional art myself, but the contemporary works have made an art lover out of me! :)
I really should get myself over there. My weekday view is of the beacon. From my high vantage point I love the glimpses of the Quay and the sky reflected in it… I’ve still got time to go along. You’ve inspired me once again :)
Oh how glorious, ED, being able to look out on the Sky Window all day! It’s definitely worth losing a lunchtime in there if you get a chance!
stunning… wish we get this sort of Art work to experience in Dubai… Maybe one day… Thanks for sharing. I love your dedication to food and at the same love for culture… it shows… that things intertwine in life!
I believe his work has been displayed in Dubai in the past – hopefully you’ll get a chance to see it there some day! :)
yes his work has been here in Art Dubai but nothing like the life size sculptures you have experienced.
I’m not much for modern art, but your photos are great!!!
Thanks Mimi, you’re kind – I kept wishing the photos could have captured more! :)
Gotta love contemporary art! Great post Celia.
Thanks Pamela! I’m a recent convert, but I do so love modern art! :)
Great post, Celia – and thank you for the prompt – I’ve been meaning to go to it and certainly will now (including lunch!) :-)
Vick, you’ll love this! It’s so much fun! The lunch at the cafe was nice, but even nicer downstairs in the restaurant! :)
Do you think I could get one of those mirrors at home? I really should get to our gallery more often, I haven’t been for at least a year or two!
Claire, Roz and I joked about having a house full of those mirrors! :)
Hi my name is Minnie and i am in the middle of making for the first time ever using your pectin recipe using crab apples and not quite ripe granny smith apples and would like to know how long can you keep it Frozen or in jars….xo thanks so much…
Hi Minnie, if you hot water process the pectin in sterilised jars for 10 minutes (as discussed in the post), you can in theory keep it for up to a year on the shelf. We’ve always used ours up within about 8 months or so. Frozen is also fine for at least six months, but we found it tends to lose a little potency when defrosted. Have fun with it! :)
This looks amazing Celia, what a great day out with your friend. The MCA is on my next-trip-to-Sydney list. Is the gift shop really good? I have looked at it online, because that is the next best thing to actually visiting in real life :)
Jane, the gift shop is great, but expensive! Some very interesting and quirky presents to be found there! :)
Oh bother, we won’t be coming over until the 8th!! I adore his work, we saw a couple of neat pieces in Munich a couple of years back. Thanks for sharing Celia.
Can’t wait to see you, Anne! xx
oh you lucky lucky thing, that sounded like a great outing, there is something deeply refreshing about brave, innovative installations.. c
Celi, thank you for understanding how exciting it all was! It was just all so clever!!
Such a great exhibit, Celia, and I would love to have accompanied you. I’m aware of his work. He was responsible for “Cloud Gate” which we in Chicago have nicknamed “The Bean.” It is a must-see in every tourist’s itinerary. I hope you don’t mond my posting a link. If you do, feel free to delete it. I certainly won’t mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate
I can only imagine how great it would be to see a collection of his works.
John, not at all, thank you for the link! I hadn’t heard of the Cloud Gate before, but isn’t it fabulous!! What a huge job it must be to keep all these pieces shiny and reflective!! :)
WOW! It seems that it was a great fun. I wished to be there too. Thank you dear Celia, love, nia
Thanks Nia! It really was fabulous! :)
I adore modern art! I love that it’s so open to interpretation. And how fantastic to visit with Roz too! :D
Have you been, Lorraine? It’s definitely worth catching the show while it’s here! :)
Thanks celia next year will do the hot water method….xo have a great week..Also some recipes you can get a print out …others you cant …so how can i get a print out of all…is there a special way to do this….i am not very computer literate …..sorry..
Sorry Minnie, I stopped putting recipes in printable format – it was taking too long, and not enough people were using them, especially given iPhones and laptops. If you want to print, you can use the print function in your internet browser (although this will be poorly formatted) or try copying and pasting the text you want into a word document and then printing it from there. Hope that helps! Thanks for reading our blog! :)
Looks fantastic! He is a genius.
Anna, he really is! :)
What fun Celia! I’ve noticed that in art galleries some people spend more time reading the little bit of written information next to the art than looking at the art itself. Obviously not the case here.
Anne, Roz commented to me that Kapoor doesn’t really want people to know his process. He obviously doesn’t want to influence people’s interpretation of his pieces either! :)
Thanks Celia, love your site and am so very happy i found it …..making my first batch of pectin was amazing and the metho bit i was stunned at it……..It really worked…
Thanks for reading, Minnie!
This looks amazing. I love your photos, and seeing both of you in them.
Deb, when we walked into the MCA, I linked arms with Roz, and said, “I’m so happy to be here with you, and I want to go fashion shopping in NY with Deb…” :)
[…] was fun to visit this exhibition with my friend Celia who has done her own blog of the show. We were able to take more time looking and discussing what we […]