Svayambh is the name of a work by Anish Kapoor. It means auto-generated, self-made, in Sanskrit. It’s part of his show that’s on at the moment at The Royal Academy, in Piccadilly. I think both this piece and the show as a whole look magnificent and a lot of fun; I’d love to go. Svayambh is an enormous, many-tonned blob of red wax that runs on rails through five of the Academy’s huge galleries, squeezing and oozing its way through the aligned doorways, extruding itself into the shape of a train (a holocaust transport, some have said), or a loaf of bread (another proposal) all because of the shape of the arches. Incidentally I’m sure all such comparisons are welcomed by Kapoor, so if it reminds you of something — hemorrhoids, for instance — don’t worry.
To avoid long, unnecessary downloading I’ll simply link to the only youtube videos I can find of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVSGErfg8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8dNvfY1bo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u72t6bzNGyU
And here’s one of another piece, called Shooting Into The Corner:
A Bad Guide 
But, but, but – where’s the goat angle?
Or should that be “butt, butt, butt”?
Thank you dearie for taking the time to comment on this, I was a bit worried that nobody would be interested. The thing about Kapoor’s work is that you have to imagine your own goat angle. On the one hand it makes you appreciate a goat blog that has photographs; but on the other, much more is left to the imagination.
I rather like that. The big loaf and the cannon (how can they fire that without hearing protection) aren’t quite my thing, but the dusty/sandy shapes and the shinies were nice.
It looks like a lot of fun, all color and shape and bending the edges of the space of the building is in. The moving bits aren’t really my thing.
I found out Leonard Cohen will be in Chicago next Thursday. I kind of want to go.
Oh, Swayambhunath is the name of a temple in Katmandu. Maybe the word has the same root. In Nepal, the Buddhists have the hills, the Hindus have the rivers, so I guess this one is Buddhist.
I rented a bicycle to get there, lots of fun getting it up the stairs.
http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/nepal/swayambhunath_stupa.html
Oh-oh, can you take the “a” off the front of that link so it will work?
Thank you for showing us this, Crown. I don’t know much about art, and often I don’t even know what I like, but I enjoyed (I think that’s the right word) the big red bowel movement.
Goats, never off-topic.
Maybe the word has the same root.
Sure. It mentions Swayambhu ‘Self-Created’ on the page to which you linked. That’s the same word; the -nath[a] part is ‘lord’ or something like that.
I dunno why the RA is so vague about “a Sanskrit word.” Haus der Kunst and Musée des Beaux-arts de Nantes weren’t when similar pieces (the archways are different shapes) were there. svayambhu(v) स्वयम्भू.
Yes that Munich one is generally much more informative, although I don’t find the piece itself nearly so impressive. It has so much more presence at the RA; in Munich it’s much smaller and you don’t get the contrast, the sense of absurdity in a formal space (like a Monty Python foot coming through the roof).
Oh, I wish I could get to that. Thanks, Crown. Fascinating!
Have you seen the Ukranian sand artist?
Oh that’s great; WW2 in sand. It reminds me a little bit of Chagall. Quite a performance. I want to try it myself. They’ve got Metallica in the background towards the end, only played by a string quartet.
Thanks for confirming my thought that it was Metallica, Kron. I saw the Ukrainian sand painting some months ago but just got around to showing my wife tonight and really only noticed the Metallica while watching it with her. I was fairly sure that it was Metallica and am grateful to have my guess validated.
Yes, it actually took me two runs through to figure it out.
Empty: Glad to see Andover is using proper Swiss goats …
I find the Kapoor sculptures are very interesting, but the cannon and the huge moving block candidates for Private Eye’s Pseud’s Corner.
However, now I’m back in London I will try to go and see them. They may be better in the flesh, as it were.
I find Pseuds’ Corner a candidate for Pseuds’ Corner.
[…] 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment Inspired by A.J.P. Virtual Art Critic here, I went to the Royal Academy yesterday, and found the exhibition moderately interesting, if you […]