1000 Names was Anish Kapoor first works done in 1979-80. Made from coloured pigment, the works was very much influenced by his journey through India in 1979 where small sanctuaries along the side of the road and little piles of pigment sold for cosmetic and ritual use at the entrances of temples.
The use of pigment contributed to the surprising appearance of 1000 Names. In each of these works, a number of indefinable forms are placed on the floor in small groups, while a single form protrudes from the wall. These are completely covered with loose pigment powder (in brilliant red, yellow, bright blue, white), by which their contours are softened. The elements give rise to associations with architecture, then with organic forms – and often with something between the two: forms in transition, somewhere between nature and the abstract. The pigment embodies a contradiction that Kapoor wished to express: the sensuality of material and color and the impossibility of touching this without disturbing the image.
'With the early powder pieces, one of the things I was trying to do was to arrive at something which was as if unmade, as if self-manifested, as if there by its own volition. (...) I was much more concerned with the way the objects gave out light; they seem to be a source of light. (...) 1000 Names implies that the objects are part of a much bigger whole. The objects seem to be coming out of the ground or the wall, the powder defining a surface, implying that there is something below the surface, like an iceberg poking out of the subconscious.'
via Anish Kapoor
