Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor

During my visit to Chicago, IL in March of 2011 I decided to make the most of it, in spite of the gloomy weather that followed all weekend long. Among all the tourist attractions Chicago has to offer, one of the most pertinent in this age is the Cloud Gate. Therefore, one of the first places I visited was the Cloud Gate which is located in the heart of the Millennium Park. The Cloud Gate or “The Bean” the name given to it affectionately by locals because of the shape is a sculpture that is made out of stainless steel that is designed to resemble a droplet of liquid mercury. The sculptor, Anish Kapoor was inspired by liquid mercury when creating Cloud Gate. Cloud Gate was made out of stainless steel that weighs 110 tons, and is 33 feet by 66 feet by 42 feet with a high arch of 12 ft. The stainless steel acts as a mirror casting a reflection on the viewer and the environment. Often times, the reflection seen is of clouds this creates a gate-like appearance to the viewer.

The Cloud Gate is a free standing sculpture assembled through stainless steel with an irregular volume. The shape of Cloud Gate is shaped like a bean, which leaves the volumetric shape to be irregular but smooth. Given the irregular shape of Cloud Gate, the sculpture holds less of a linear perspective than a volumetric perspective when looked at an angle. However, when looked at as a whole, the linear perspective is seen in the form of placement when viewed aerially. The space around the free standing model depicts distortion of the viewer and their surroundings. The illusion of lack of space is observed when watching oneself in the Cloud Gate. Instantly, when I looked into the beloved Bean my reality became distorted in a circularly inclined manner. My figure seemed to be broader the closer I came to the Bean. The reflection of myself was an astonishing revelation of the artist’s intentions of perspective and reflections.

The intentions of a reflection created by stainless steel had an expressive function for the viewer. The color generated by the stainless steel changed according to the type of weather Chicago was facing. The inclement weather that I witnessed during my visit left the Cloud Gate to be dirty and stained by the weather. The leftover sleet on the sculpture left dried marks all over the sculpture forming a reflection of a dreary environment. However, on a beautiful day the sun would beam a magnificent reflection into Cloud Gate forming a more optimistic manifestation of the environment. The inner part of the beam is made of concentric circles of stainless revealing multiple images of the viewer. When looking from underneath the 12 ft arch at the very top, various images of oneself are revealed in different angles. The technique that was used to form such images was the placing of concentric circles made of stainless steel on top of each other. Anish Kapoor took several factors such as these into account to build a reflection that would allow the viewer to escape into the clouds.

Kapoor’s previous works of art as well as the Cloud Gate allow the viewer to reveal rather than create thereby allowing the viewer to make their own interpretation. Each viewer, according to Kapoor has their individual experience that is between them and Cloud Gate. For me, the revelation showed an identification of oneself in the eyes of art. The smoothness in addition to the stained steel by rain showed the imperfections of a masterpiece. Regardless of the daily cleaning of the sculpture and the semiannual cleaning, Cloud Gate still was not as shiny as it would have been on a bright sunny day. The imperfections were symbolic in matters of the public and the individualistic spirit that existed in them. Cloud Gate, on that day revealed to me that even art pieces by world renowned artists had imperfections. Imperfections that could not be foreseen and would serve to be too high maintenance if demanded to clean everyday with liquid Tide. Therefore, imperfections are a part of life and that as an individual, it was only normal to encounter such disparities.

The design based on liquid mercury allowed the designer to form a shape that would be distinctive in the world. Cloud Gate is a beautiful interpretation that reveals itself to the viewer individually. Each individual has a unique experience with it and sees a different gate that leads to different places. For me, it showed that art can have imperfections yet be magnificent at the same time. The Bean in Chicago is a gate of revelations that keeps the viewer bewildered every step of the way.