By IANS,
London : Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor, famous for his massive installations around the world, has joined the ranks of Britain’s super-rich artists and is now considering buying a five million pound country mansion, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Kapoor will be included in The Sunday Times Rich List when the 2010 edition comes out, joining artists Damien Hirst and Lucian Freud.
Hirst is worth about 235 million pounds and Freud 120 million pounds.
Kapoor made profits of 17.2 million pounds in 2008, taking the fortune he has made from his art to an estimated 40 million pounds and is now considering adding a five million pound country house in the Berkshire to his list of assets, The Sunday Times reported.
The 17th century, eight-bedroom house is owned by the National Trust, which preserves places of historic importance or natural beauty, and situated in the Berkshire Downs, a part of southern England known for its outstanding natural beauty.
Kapoor’s sculptures fetched 5.5 million pounds last year, including a reflective stainless-steel globe, which sold for 1.17 million pounds.
His assets include three London properties – a studio, a 2.7 million pound home in Chelsea with walls of glass, stone and shimmering stainless steel, and a four million pound townhouse in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, central London. He also owns a two million pound property in the Bahamas.
Kapoor is currently engaged in the world’s largest commission, a 15 million pound series of sculptures known as the Tees Valley Giants, which will be put up across five towns in northeast England.
A source close to Kapoor told the paper that despite his wealth he had not become ostentatious.
“Both he and his studio have their feet very firmly on the ground. The windows leak. It’s not pretentious in any way or form.”