Anish Kapoor’s new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery presents a striking array of large-scale sculptures and installations, showcasing the artist’s continued exploration of color, form, and perception. The show, which opened this month in London, features an expansive red landscape installation alongside a range of sculptural works employing Kapoor’s signature pigments, including his exclusive use of Vantablack, known as the world’s blackest black.

The exhibition opens with an imposing red inflatable sculpture reminiscent of a giant beef tomato. Its inflated surface dominates the entry space, compelling visitors to navigate around it while tempting tactile engagement. Upstairs, visitors encounter Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto, a massive crimson and black sculptural form suspended from the ceiling. The work, named after the biblical site where Abraham was tested by God, encourages viewers to circumambulate it to appreciate its complex surface and ambiguous nature, which blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture.

Complementing these large works are several oversized hanging installations resembling transparent sacs filled with visceral, organ-like forms in shades of red, dark liver, and streaked white. These pieces combine silicone molds with heavy layers of paint, creating striking but ambiguous representations that evoke both biological and confectionary imagery.

The exhibition also includes Kapoor’s paintings, which have drawn mixed responses. The works feature vulval-inspired forms rendered in vivid oranges, browns, and yellows with heavy textures. This side of Kapoor’s practice has been regarded as less successful by some critics, especially when compared to his masterful use of pure color elsewhere in the show.

A notable absence in the exhibition is Kapoor’s iconic Yves Klein blue, with the dominant palette being various reds, black, and flesh tones. His Vantablack works stand out for their optical effects: flat black shapes that, when viewed from different angles, appear to deepen into infinite voids. These pieces are designed at a human scale, incorporating familiar architectural motifs such as doors and windows, and are presented behind subtle barriers that maintain viewer distance. They invite repeated engagement as viewers’ positions alter the perceived depth and dimensionality.

Further explorations of perception are evident in Kapoor’s polished stainless steel sculptures, both within the gallery’s White Cube space and on the terraces overlooking the London skyline. These mirrored surfaces distort reflections, causing viewers to seemingly disappear, multiply, or levitate within the gallery environment. Outside, large steel forms curve and invert familiar cityscape views, reinforcing the theme of altered perception.

While Kapoor’s exhibition excels in its ability to captivate the senses through scale, color, and optical illusion, some observers note that the show prioritizes visual spectacle over deeper conceptual or spiritual engagement. Despite titles such as Paradise and Descent into Limbo, the works often leave the viewer with intense visual experiences rather than unequivocal metaphysical insight.

One of the exhibition’s highlights is a monumental red terrain installation that fills an entire gallery space. Resembling the sandstone monolith Uluru—a site Kapoor has described as “the most religious place I have ever been to”—the work immerses visitors in a vividly colored landscape of crags and ascending paths. Kapoor has explained his intention to create “a condition of colour, not a painted surface,” aiming for the red hue to saturate the viewer's entire field of vision. This immersive environment culminates in a large, doorway-shaped void, itself a characteristic Kapoor motif.

Overall, the Hayward show reaffirms Anish Kapoor’s status as a leading contemporary artist whose innovative use of materials and color continues to stimulate visual wonder. However, the exhibition also prompts reflection on the balance between spectacle and substance in his recent work.