Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy

I’ve been a fan of artist Anish Kapoor for ages. There’s something quite dark and ritualistic about his work – splashes of vivid red; rounded boulders with recesses in which scarlet paint lurks. His objects often seem like secret shrines.

Yet at the same time Kapoor can be playful. There’s a piece in the new Royal Academy exhibition in which a sort of cannon shoots red wax through a door at a white wall. As the exhibition continues, the wax builds up, in a huge splodge of red, like blood. An indelible stain. It’s rather silly, in one way – utterly terrifying, in another. But like all Kapoor’s art it’s marked by the simplicity with which he achieves his ends.

Whether you love his art or hate it – and some people do – you can’t ignore it. It’s huge and in-your-face – big effects and visceral colours. There’s melodrama and grand guignol, splatter and ooze.  It’s often incredibly physical art – it’s about decay, change, how things come to be, but you only understand the metaphysics once you’ve already allowed yourself to be overwhelmed by the sheer physicality of its presence.

Some people see Kapoor as a fake guru, with superficially appealing pieces that don’t really mean much. Sometimes his illusions, like the huge mirrors in one room here, do look a little bit clever-clever – though I find the effect mesmerising. But I find his bold works keep making me think; and it’s not always comfortable thoughts that come to mind.

Where: the Royal Academy, Piccadilly [map]

When: 10-6 daily, till 11 December 2009

How much: £12 full price: various concessions apply

Photo by kate Fisher on flickr shows Kapoor’s ‘Dismemberment of Joan of Arc’