The sculptor Anish Kapoor, ceramic artist Grayson Perry, designer Thomas Heatherwick and Tate Director Nicolas Serota have all received recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Kapoor, who won the Turner Prize in 1991 and became a household name last year after the opening of the Orbit sculpture in the Olympic park – work that divided critics and the public – has been knighted for ‘services to visual arts’. He said: “I am honoured and humbled to receive this honour and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped me during my career.”
Perry received a CBE for ‘services to contemporary art’. The Turner Prize-winning artist commented that he was already thinking about the dress he would wear to receive the award from the Queen. He added: “I suppose I’m surprised that the tentacles of the establishment reach into my particular pond of culture.”
Heatherwick, who was responsible for the London 2012 Olympic cauldron, received his award for ‘services to the design industry’. Tate Director Sir Nicolas Serota, who was knighted in 1999, was made a member of the Order of Companions for ‘services to art’.
Kapoor, who currently has a major exhibition of his work showing in Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau museum, stated in a recent interview that the UK’s approach to the arts was deeply flawed, contrasting it to the way Germany supports the sector.
Speaking to the Guardian last month, he said: “The UK has two things, the arts and education, and both of them it pushes into the corner. It’s the hugest, hugest mistake. Why do British ministers meet anyone from the arts other than to cut them? Compared to Germany, Britain has got quite a long way to go there, frankly. In short, Britain’s fucked.”
