Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror Inspired Poetry

Six of us docents entered the gallery in which Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror hangs at the Portland Art Museum yesterday. As we approached this reflective piece our individual and collective realities were altered. We each saw a slightly different perspective of our group and the room as we moved forward, stood still, move backwards together. As we explored and talked, our world changed. Hundreds of eyes, then hundreds of mouths, then our faces would appear. And as the images in each reflective six sided piece of reflective stainless changed, we found our voices amplified. Whispers from the bench were amplified and carried across the room. We were alone, together, whole, fragmented. Kapoor's piece is definitely a reason to visit the Portland Art Museum even if you have seen or don't want to see China Design Now or Raphael's La Velata again. I'd recommend all three but I'd recommend starting with Kapoor.

Each of us docents wrote for eight minutes towards the end of our time at the museum. We could write whatever we chose. Here is a piece written by one of our group - I chose it for my love of eyeglasses of which I have five active pairs, only one diamond but five glasses. The special perks of being one of the writers of this blog is to choose what is posted...

A Moment of Clarity

(with a nod to Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror)

I wake up with a start
Then a slow inkling
A Blur Feast at dawn

I reach over to the bedside stand
groping for my designer glasses .. my Anish Kapoor
coolest glasses ever
Shiny reflective
I-see-You-but-You-can't-see-me-Anish-Kapoor-Alternative-Universe-Spectator-Spectacles


There You are next to me
reflected, refracted,
fragmented,
scattered
all over the room.

I move and the wall curves
the picture colors pulse like
goldfish mouths O-O-O-O

Get it together! You can't go out
in the world all schizoid like this
multiple personalities writhing like snakes on Medusa's Head

And You talk fast at me with your myopic words
Take off those Anish Kapoor specs right now!

And I say low and slow NO Never! You blind man.

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror on 4, Brancusi on 1

This week's piece on Fifty Two Pieces is Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror, a highly reflective multi-faceted metal sculpture. Two days ago I posted about two other note-worthy sculptures, both of which are reflective metal. Tony Cragg's work is currently on display in the Portland Art Museum's main lobby. John Chamberlain's Neptune's Cap is unfortunately long gone. All three of these pieces are/were here on loan. However, PAM is fortunate to have Constantine Brancusi's A Muse completed in 1918 as part of its permanent collection. Museum patrons take note that this was a gift of Patron Sally Lewis back in 1959.























What these two images off the internet don't show is the truly amazing reflections on that highly polished bronze sculpture. Stand just right and you see the entire gallery behind you and yourself four times. You become the sculpture's muse or your own, however you choose to interpret that. You'll also notice that the images are reversed. Which one is correct? Always an interesting question on the internet. I'd recommend a trip to the museum, but for those of you who aren't in the immediate vicinity, I'll let you know that our Muse's dominant hand is the left one. I'm not certain what Brancusi would have thought of cyberspace but I'm thinking he probably would have been an eager beta tester.

Fly Eye and the Amazing Hexagonal Mirror

Being with Hexagonal Mirror makes me appreciate the eye of the fly- if you were to push the thing in from behind that's what you would get, one giant insect eye. In this case I am the insect, seeing the world around me in thousands of tiny mirrors.

I see all these pieces of me separated from each other. In one mirror is my mouth and there it is again and again, dozens of my mouths in little seperated compartments populate one area of the mirror.

Even more wonderful than my closed mouth in forty mirrors is the echo I get when I stand in the sweet spot. It vibrates off the walls of the Hexagonal Mirror. So I stand within the tiny reflected pieces of me and make the biggest noises I can make. The noises get bigger than I can make them because they bounce off the walls. I am made bigger and smaller in this place, and everything about me is multiplied.
LaValle is right about entering a new world, this piece of art is a world with it's very own version of every person that enters it. It has it's own silent sound system just waiting to be turned on, the only thing about it that reminds me of the world I know is that it looks like a fly eye, and really, what is more amazing than that?

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror on 4, Tony Cragg on 1

The Portland Art Museum has been very fortunate to host the works of world class sculptors such as Anish Kapoor, the artist of this week's piece on Fifty Two Pieces (see image of Hexagonal Mirror on the left). And in some cases these pieces are reflective metal like Kapoor's. Right now the museum is also exhibiting Tony Cragg's sculpture that remains untitled but stands over seven feet tall. You can see this reflective spiral if you choose the main entrance on SW Park. After you've gone through guest services, you can watch the world through the reflections created by Tony Cragg and by your own mind as it puts together images from the four walls around it –– three sides are Asian, including the red from "China Design Now" and the fourth is from the park across the street. Remember, as you're looking at what's reflected, that only about 25% of what goes to your visual cortex comes from your retinas. Ah, and in my case I'm thinking of the other reflective sculpture that the Portland Art Museum had on display for over two years beginning in 2005 – John Chamberlain's stainless steel Neptune's Cap.


This 8 x 6 x 4 foot sculpture of stainless steel graced the Link Gallery and would stop many visitors for longer than the usual thirty seconds that they would normally spend at most works of art. During the majority of its time here, it reflected this rather large painting by Larry Poons. Keep in mind that Chamberlain's original design was for the sculptor, Donald Judd. Neptune's Cap was to be submerged in the swimming pool at Judd's compound in Marfa, Texas. Unfortunately, Judd died in 1994 while the work was still in design. Chamberlain finally completed the piece in 2005. Since I now know where the piece was originally intended to be shown, I have a difficult time not thinking of kelp - beautiful reflective ribbons from the sea rather than Poons' pinks. Many thanks to Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator at the Portland Art Museum, for arranging these extraordinary loans.

Anish Kapoor ~ Portland and Chicago

Anish Kapoor is well known for his very large usually reflective sculptures. Although Portland is not home to one of them, Chicago, on the other hand, is. Kapoor's Cloud Gate graces Millennium Park and the natives refer to it as the Bean which it, of course, resembles – you have to love those Chicagoans for accuracy. The Cloud/Bean is Kapoor's first site specific installation in the United States. In addition to the above images of the Cloud, I'm including a video and a link to another in an effort to keep the posts uncluttered. Click here for the additional video. Right now we'll have to settle for the Hexagonal Mirror currently on view at the Portland Art Museum and this week's piece at Fifty Two Pieces.



Speaking of Chicago, I'll take this opportunity to also tout the symphony at Grant Park there, Millennium Park's outdoor music venue. Carlos Kalmar (the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony) is the Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival. Chicagoans love him. They come out in the rain to watch and listen to him conduct. They truly know genius when they see it. The night we watched him conduct he arrived with his hair combed close to his head. We were convinced he had done something to his usual "fro" that would keep him from conducting with his usual eloquence. No, we were wrong. He started fine and within 10 minutes his hair had dried (he must have been caught in the rain) and conducted a superb evening of music. So the next time you're in Chicago, visit Millennium Park. In addition to all of its other activities and sculptures, you'll be able to personally take in the Cloud/Bean. If you time your visit right you'll also be able to hear Kalmar conduct for free.

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror

I wish I could say that the above images are of Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror at the Portland Art Museum. Alas, the museum has a No Photography rule. As a result, photos of Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror that is currently on the 4th floor of the CMCA are few and far between. At some point though, images should begin to appear on Flickr much as the ones in the image above have. They're of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's version of the Hexagonal Mirror.

As you can see from the images above (click here to go to that page on Flickr), you won't just view the Mirror as a spectator, you'll be a particpant with it. You'll walk around the room, move in closer, move away, walk around the room some more. It will completely entrance you. Don't miss this sculpture – it's on loan and could be off display at any moment. The first time I went to PAM to see it, I was the only person in the gallery. The effect of the light from the southern windows and the wolves baying from the Kiki Smith wall hanging was as if I had entered the Underworld. Fortunately, I found that if you stand in exactly the right spot, just to the right of center, you'll see dozens of reflected Emergency Exit signs to take advantage of.

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror

For all of you who are in Portland for the foreseeable future, you'll be able to enter the world as created by Anish Kapoor. This Hexagonal Mirror (shown here as a work in progress) is now on display on the 4th Floor of the CMCA at the Portland Art Museum. Anish Kappor is famous for his reflective sculptures of all shapes and sizes. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a similar one on display in its Modern wing but viewing that one will cost you a plane flight and lodging expenses. So take advantage of the opportunity and visit this unique sculpture soon.