Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
The Covid Diaries 56: City of London, Sculpture in the City
7 mins
A review of the 9th season of Sculpture in the City. More of an assemblage of outdoor art than a real sculpture festival, but in the current situation it’s a good opportunity to get out and see some artworks.
The city seen through Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block) by Jyll Bradley
Sculpture in the City, Lockdown Style
Sculpture in the City, like Canary Wharf’s Connected by Light and the Southbank Centre’s Winter Light, is a free outdoor exhibition of public art. As such, they are about the only exhibitions still ‘open’ to the public during this long winter of lockdowns. I am extremely fortunate to be within walking distance of all three, so have visited them to get my culture fix. Sculpture in the City also gave me the chance to reflect on public art which exists in the corporate space.
This is the ninth edition of Sculpture in the City, and is on view until Spring 2021. According to their website they do commission works, but I don’t recall a single work I saw on my walk which hadn’t been displayed elsewhere first. This makes Sculpture in the City more of an assemblage than a festival. There is no theme or idea which unites all the works, so each has to speak for itself. On the other hand, it is a chance for workers and visitors to the City of London to see artworks from a variety of sources. It also gives new life and interpretation to sculptures originally commissioned by the likes of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Turner Contemporary, or Bristol Biennial.
Because of the length of the ‘exhibition’, works seem to come and go. Not everything described by the Sculpture in the City website can be viewed today. Some works made a big impression and their absence is immediately noticed (like Bridging Home by Do Ho Suh). Others were more fleeting and ephemeral. But there is still enough to make for an interesting walk around the City, provided you can do so under current lockdown rules, of course.
Around Leadenhall Market
ARCADIA, by Leo Fitzmaurice, is a 2019 work commissioned by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Three versions were originally part of SITC, of which two can be seen today. The image at the top is outside Fenchurch Street Station, and the at the bottom near the Lloyds Building. Fitzmaurice aims to subvert the typical informational sign by substituting ‘something more poetic’. What I found interesting about this is how the same work resonates when situated in the lush green hills of Yorkshire or the side streets and squares of inner London. Does the latter make it appear more satirical, or is that just my cynicism? [Edit: Fitzmaurice himself sees it as a new artwork in this context, posing more of a question than in the greenery of YSP]
Series Industrial Windows I by Maria Ferreira. There’s a lot going on here. The work matches the exact dimensions of windows from a former textile factory near the artist’s home. They are constructed using a method utilised in the factory. Ferreira is evoking memory and exploring how we engage with the past through industrial ruins. She is also challenging our perception of space and colour. I thought this sculpture was very striking, but it seems so tactile that it is a little disappointing that the windows are static.
You will have to take my word for it (unless you have very good eyesight) that these are photos of two artworks in Leadenhall Market. Perhaps I came at the wrong time of day, or perhaps they aren’t illuminated during lockdown. I’m Stayingby Shaun C. Badham is at the top. This artwork was commissioned by the Bristol Biennial, and moved to different locations as voted by residents. At the bottom is The Sourceby Patrick Tuttofuoco, who takes inspiration from youth culture as he captures his hands in sign language gestures.
In the Shadows of Skyscrapers
Within a Realm of Relative Form by Lawrence Wiener. The artwork is a series of sentences across the windows of the Leadenhall Building. It fits into the artist’s exploration of art as “the relationship of objects to objects in relation to human beings.” Make of that what you will.
Abstract Mass by Nina Saunders. These are two ‘de-contextualised and re-contextualised’ armchairs in concrete and steel. The artist uses political, cultural and personal lenses to reflect on the city. A domestic object in a public context is interesting. As is the appearance of comfort vs. the reality of uninviting concrete. I wonder how these objects are utilised when the city is properly busy?
Crocodylius Philodendrus by Nancy Rubins. This sculpture has a lot of energy; metal animals burst forth from a central point, carefully balanced and secured with cables. It warrants a close inspection to see the detail of crocodiles, deer and zebras; and also contemplation from further away to see the kinetic potential of the whole.
Stagnight by Michael Lyons. The title is a play on words – we think of course of a drunken evening when we hear ‘stag night’. But Lyons is referring to a time during an artist’s residency when a huge stag watched him drawing. This sculpture is a drawing made physical: strong shadows, the forms of trees, solid and void.
Towards Aldgate
Reclining Nude I by Kevin Francis Gray. This work is fascinating. It looks so much like a quick preparatory figure in wax, but is actually marble. Gray is playing with art history, updating a very standard form in a way that feels fresh. The churchyard of St Botolph Without Aldgate will be a nice place to sit and contemplate it as restrictions lift.
The Garden of Floating Words by Elisa Artesero. The very astute among you will remember we also saw work by Artesero at Connected by Lightin Canary Wharf. In both cases the works were textual, poetic, and visually striking. I must say I preferred The Stories Under Our Feet, but apparently this one looks its best at night.
Site of the Fall – study of the renaissance garden: Action 180: At 9:15 am Sunday 28 May 1967, by Reza Aramesh. This is one of the most thought-provoking of the SITC works. The figure is based on a reportage image from the Vietnam War. The larger-than-life size renders the figure heroic, but we wonder ‘what came next’? The Carrara marble is beautiful, and the plinth site-specific.
And Two More To Finish The Tour
The Same for Everyone by Nathan Coley. This is part of a series where the artist takes texts he didn’t write, and creates ambiguity by placing them in a new context. Even more so in this case, as the work was a commission in Aarhus, Denmark, now situated in a London courtyard. Is it a phrase of protest? A question? A provocation?
And finally, Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block), by Jyll Bradley, commissioned by Turner Contemporary and Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust. You previously saw this work on my walk around the Roman city walls. As well as the coloured perspex (referencing glasshouses), the sculpture incorporates old naval timbers from the dockyard. The orange represents the Netherlands, the green the UK. And Agneta Block was a pioneering Dutch botanist. A lot to unpack, which wouldn’t have been visible to us had Sculpture in the City not brought this work to London. A fine note to end on.
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7 thoughts on “The Covid Diaries 56: City of London, Sculpture in the City”
7 thoughts on “The Covid Diaries 56: City of London, Sculpture in the City”