Twenty-two Revisions: Leviathan

Le Grand Palais, Paris, France

Inspiration can come in many forms. It could be a beautiful painting, the written word or even a funny YouTube video. This spring, inspiration came to me in the form of the ‘Leviathan’.

What’s that you ask? Well, let me tell you.

A few months ago a co-worker and friend, Mark, posted a Facebook link to this year’s Monumenta. For those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t know at the time!!) Monumenta is the indoor art project that fills the vast and très belle hall of the Grand Palais Museum in Paris (France) with a single contemporary work of art for five weeks every spring. The post immediately caught my interest because coincidently, I was in the midst of planning a trip to Paris! The sheer monumental scale of the Grand Palais provided the inspiration for: Monumenta. But, last year’s Monumenta project, by the French artist Christian Boltanski – “heaps of used clothes highlighting the plight of the dispossessed” – didn’t even come close to realizing the possibilities of the 13,500 m2 of space. BTW - I have the same sculpture in my bedroom.

Monumenta 2010 by Christian Boltanski.

This year’s installation was “Leviathan” by Anish Kapoor, Indian-born, British-based artist and the creator of many contemporary art structures, to name a couple of interest to me: Chicago’s Cloud Gate and the Orbit Tower – currently being built at the 2012 Olympic site. The Orbit Tower is positioned to be London’s version of the Eiffel Tower and to be completed the end of this year. Knowing a bit of Anish’s reputation I knew the Leviathan would not disappoint.

The Orbit Tower under construction.

On May 11, 2011, “Leviathan,” opened to huge amounts of critical and popular praise. Critics likened the piece to a beached whale or giant wombs. But looking at the pictures made me feel that... “I’m-going-to-miss-it-panic” that sets in when hearing about a far-away piece that’s clearly going to become one of those historically, influential works. I get that feeling a lot but this time... off to Paris I flew to actually see it! I had no idea what I was about to experience.

I made my visit to Le Grand Palais on a Sunday night at 11:00 pm. With not a single person in line I paid my 5 Euros and was immediately ushered into a darkened entrance hall, through a doorway into an immense, red womb-like space. I gasped out loud (GOL) in awe and amazement. It was lightly lit through its membrane-like surface which looked soft and almost velvet-like. Looking upward, gaping orifices open out into three unreachable pod-like spaces. I was in the Leviathan... with no sense of the surrounding environment. Maybe it was because it was way past my bedtime but the experience felt meditative and dream-like.
Passing back out into the entrance area, I was directed through another door into the main entrance of the hall where I’m hit and overwhelmed by a gigantic globular rubber structure – the exterior of the Leviathan. Moving through the arches of the Leviathan, I truly felt... antlike, yet far from feeling oppressed. This immense mass before me glowed and whichever way I looked or moved I was hit by some extraordinary new vista and wonderment.
The structure’s central space and three extensions appeared as immense purple rubber spheres projecting into the three parts of the hall, challenging the vaulted greenhouse-like roof and surrounding art nouveau balconies. It was perfect in it’s symmetry and oddly elegant in it’s form. The juxtaposition of the two structures – Le Grand Palais and the Leviathan – was exhilarating and inspiring. Thank you Anish for a once in a life time experience. It was unforgettable.

Of course I took a million pictures... Voilà my 2011 inspiration, the Leviathan. Enjoy.