Anish Kapoor Indian, b. 1954

Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay and moved to London in the 1970s to study art at the Hornsey College of Art and the Chelsea School of Art and Design. His first sculptures were made from natural materials such as plaster, limestone, pigment, granite and marble. During the 1980s he became renowned for these organic creations with their vivid colours, powdered surfaces and abstract forms.

He later began carving out gaping holes and hollows from solid pieces of quarried stone, exploring contrasts of light/ dark, male/female, presence/absence. In the mid-1990s he developed these physically philosophical ideas further with unsettling works that often seemed to be sinking, disappearing or moving away from a viewer. His works in polished metal have mirror-like surfaces and undulating minimalist lines that trick the eye, playfully reflecting and distorting passers-by. Kapoor represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1990, and received the Turner Prize in 1991. He is regarded as one of the most prominent British sculptors of his generation.

Kapoor lives and works in London.