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Crazy Pablo: AnishKapoorAnishKapoorAnishKa...

Selfie culture reduces the world to a mere backdrop for our ego. But what happens when a mirror forces us to look beyond ourselves? That’s why I found myself thinking of Anish Kapoor.

Author

Inbal Zakai
August 23, 2026

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Cloud Gate - By Of the photograph: Flickr user biskuit Of the sculpture: Anish Kapoor - This photo was cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/1538113210/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18060270

Man, Architecture, and Infinity

Take his iconic Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park - a 110-ton monument of seamless, mirror-polished stainless steel. At first glance, it’s the ultimate selfie magnet, but it does something far deeper.

By bending Chicago’s rigid, concrete skyline, it pulls the drifting clouds down from the sky into the heart of the city, blending harsh urbanism with fluid nature. And as you step up to take your photo, the sculpture refuses to show just you: its massive curve instantly merges your reflection with the crowd, the architecture, and the sky-turning a solitary, narcissistic impulse into a shared, collective experience.

Fun Fact

Gateway of India - By A.Savin - Own work, FAL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47966129

The name Cloud Gate is a subtle nod to Kapoor’s birthplace, Mumbai, home to the famous Gateway of India. But while the British built that stone arch as a rigid monument to imperial power, Kapoor flipped the concept on its head - creating a fluid, borderless "gate" that reflects the people, not an empire.

Gateway of India - By Of the photograph: Flickr user biskuit Of the sculpture: Anish Kapoor - This photo was cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/1538113210/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18060270

Think About It

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, prisoners mistake shadows on a wall for the only true reality. Cloud Gate flips this script. It takes our fixed, rigid world - the Chicago skyline, and dissolves it into a fluid, chaotic, and dynamic form. It begs the question: Is the structured world we build the actual reality, or does Kapoor’s 'distortion' expose a deeper, ever-changing truth about existence?

How does it relate to the here and now? or What to say during casual conversation to show off your art knowledge?

Inner stillness - “When I saw Anish Kapoor’s work, I kept reflecting on how hard it is to escape the noise of daily life. When you stand right under the concave belly of Cloud Gate, the entire city folds into this strange, womb-like stillness”.

Selfie culture vs. Collective: "When I was looking at Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, I couldn’t stop thinking about how as you get closer, the curved steel swallows your individual reflection and merges it with the crowd around you. In a culture so obsessed with 'me,' it’s a brilliant reminder that we’re ultimately part of a collective and part of nature."

Now have another Look!

Anish Kapoor (British-Indian, b. 1954), Cloud Gate, 2004–2006. Stainless steel, 10×20×13m, 110 tons. Millennium Park, Chicago, USA.

And If You’re Up for More…

  1. Anish Kapoor at Hayward Gallery: until October 18, 2026, in London, UK - taking over the entire gallery and its iconic outdoor terraces, this major retrospective features massive inflatable installations, light-absorbing Vantablack voids, and distorted stainless-steel mirrors that transform the surrounding Brutalist architecture.

  2. Anish Kapoor at Serlachius: until April 4, 2027, in Mänttä, Finland - set deep within the Finnish forest, this comprehensive museum show centers around Ancestor, a monumental 11-meter-tall site-specific sculpture, alongside raw silicone paintings and dark pigment works that play against the surrounding natural landscape.

  3. Sky Mirror at Nottingham Playhouse: Permanent Installation, in Nottingham, UK - a giant six-meter concave stainless-steel dish that literally pulls the sky down to earth, flipping the clouds, weather, and urban plaza completely upside down.

Till next time - Did Anish Kapoor’s warped reflections make you question the "reality" you take for granted every day?

Hit reply or leave a comment below to share your take! Do you think the structured, rigid world around us is the ultimate truth, or does it take a distorted mirror to reveal how things really are? I’d love to hear what’s on your mind - I read and cherish every single one of your replies.

Yours,
Inbal Z M

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