Anish Kapoor, the 59 year old, Indian-born British sculptor has been Knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours list. Kapoor said; “I am honoured and humbled to receive this honour and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped me during my career. “I would like to thank them all for making it possible”;he added.
Kapoor is best known for his reflective sculpture, as well as the landmark Arcelor-Mittal Orbit tower, a 115-metre-high twisted steel sculpture, located at London’s Olympic Park. He is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. Born in Bombay, Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the early 70’s. He 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. Anish Kapoor won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1991.
The designer of the iconic Olympic caldron, Thomas Heatherwick has also been recognised by the Queen. The award-winner, said it was an “immense honour” to have been made a CBE for his services to the design industry. “My passion is the public world around us that we share with each other and I’m proud to have had the chance in recent years to work on public projects of national significance,” said the 43-year-old RIBA fellow, whose latest project is to design a pedestrian garden bridge to span the River Thames.
The 53 year old artist Grayson Perry, known for his ceramics and narrative tapestries was presented a CBE in this years honours. The Turner Prize winner said he is “already thinking about what outfit to wear when he goes to the palace to pick up his award for services to contemporary art”. Perry who often dresses as his female alter-ego Claire admitted he had not expected the honour, saying: “I suppose I’m surprised that the tentacles of the establishment reach into my particular pond of culture.”
A Companions of Honour has also been awarded to the director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, for services to art.