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Anish Kapoor's Descension, which was first envisioned for the 2014-2015 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, has now been installed as a large-scale outdoor piece in Brooklyn.
A piece of art born in India's Kochi-Muziris Biennale about two years ago has now captured the imagination of New Yorkers.
Descension -- one of Anish Kapoor's most innovative new works -- opened at the Brooklyn Bridge Park on May 3 as part of the New York City Public Art Fund's 40th anniversary season.
PAF, which has been bringing art into public spaces for New Yorkers since 1977 to break down traditional boundaries between art and the audience, ranks Kapoor 'among the most inventive and influential artists of his generation.'
'He has created compelling and poetic bodies of work using a range of materials that include raw pigment, stone, stainless steel, synthetic polymer, resin, and wax,' the PAF says in a statement. 'He also has a longstanding interest in the sculptural potential of water.'
And Descension 'represents a breakthrough with this inherently challenging, slippery substance.'
'The continuous swirling motion of this 26-foot-diameter liquid mass converges in a central vortex,' says PAF.
The water is treated with an all-natural black dye, adding opacity and an arresting depth and giving visitors a chance to experience Kapoor's abstract form on multiple levels.
'Since the mid-1990s, Kapoor has explored the notion of the void by creating works that seem to recede into the distance, disappear into walls or floors, or otherwise destabilize assumptions about the physical world,' PAF says.
'Descension realizes a long-held aspiration of the artist to create a negative space alive with energy, continuously in process.'
'Kapoor reminds us of the contingency of appearances: our senses inevitably deceive us,' Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator, PAF, adds.
'Kapoor is interested in what we don't know rather than in what we do, understanding that the limit of perception is also the threshold of human imagination.'
Descension was first envisioned as a smaller, interior work for the 2014-2015 Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Kapoor later re-imagined as a large-scale outdoor piece for a solo exhibition in Versailles.
The Brooklyn exhibition marks Descension's North American debut.
'We're thrilled that Anish's newest work will be a highlight of this anniversary season, more than a decade after his outdoor debut with us,' Baume adds.
Descension will be on view at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 through September 10, 2017.
