When my friends from the states were over last month, I took the opportunity to take them to Regent's Park in the hot sunshine to see the latest edition of Frieze Sculpture 2018. Every summer, Frieze Sculpture takes place, and the corner of Regent's Park closest to Great Portland Street becomes host to a collection of fascinating sculptures on display for visitors to enjoy. I saw these last year and was really impressed: Frieze Art Fair 2017. This is a free event in London's art calendar, and the sculptures are on display until 7 October. Photographs of the sculptures and a little bit of information about them is below. With the bright sun combined with best-side-view and avoiding capturing people sitting on the grass near some of the sculptures, capturing some of these was nearly impossible so I have done my best.
Holiday Home (Regent's Park), 2018, by Richard Woods
The bright yellow miniature house is certainly eye-catching, and it greets visitors on arrival through the main gates on the corner of the park. Woods has created many of these identical little houses, made with bright and bold colours, and it certainly seems to be one of the most-photographed sculptures this year.
The Intermediary Family (2018), by Bharti Kher
The sculpture looks like a group of Indian gods and goddesses, animals, and humans opening up like Russian dolls. The artist refers to them as half-breeds and shamans to trick the viewer.
PAN AFRICAN FLAGS FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS' ALLIANCE (2018), by Larry Achiampong
The flags are inspired by the artist's "Relic Traveler" project and captures African symbols and colours for a future African nation in these flags.
Shadow Stack, 2018, by Sean Scully
The use of steel gives this sculpture texture, and the artist explores horizon on the large steel block.
Dancing Clog Girls I-III (foreground), 2015, by Laura Ford
These dancing girls look in place in the 1700s in France, but a closer look reveals that their dancing may be struggling as their clogs and staffs appear to take on a life of their own.
Octavio, Mezzetino, Corine, Chinoisie (2018) by Rachel Feinstein
These white marble-like statues are inspired by Dell'Arte figures of Franz Anton Bustelli. They encourage the visitor to place themselves on top of the white pedestals, though there are ropes and warnings around to keep visitors off.
TREADPAD B - PAIR 2 WALKING SHIP 40 TON STANDARD DISPLACEMENT 4 LEG (DIA 1000), 2018; and TREADPAD B - PAIR 1 WALKING SHIP 150 TON STANDARD DISPLACEMENT 4 LEG (DIA 1800), 2018, both by James Capper
These sculptures combine art with engineering and mechanics, and these large orange and cream items appear to be some sort of machine or part of a machine.
Si par une nuit d'hiver un voyageur (2017) by Elmgreen & Dragset
This sculpture of a vulture/buzzard is named after the 1979 novel by Calvino. It describes a fictional reality to describe who is being watched or preyed on.
Senzenina (2018) by Haroon Gunn-Salie
These two lowered headless figures are modelled on a police massacre when police opened fires on miners in South Africa.
Pact (2017-18) by Hugo Wilson
The Italian Baroque style and 1980s cartoon "Thundercats" apparently inspired this bronze sculpture, which appears to be made of a single piece of wood.
Optic Labyrinth (Arrangement I), 2018, by Conrad Shawcross
This labyrinth is made of steel and made to be explored by the viewer, checking out the different angles and locating the different corners of the structure.
Parallax, 2018, by Tyburn Gallery
The theme of this is broken urban infrastructure in the form of twisted street lamps. This is meant to provide a political message to South Africa as it suffers in urban decay.
Large Nijinski on Anvil Point, 2001, by Barry Flanagan
The heavy anvil is balanced by the dancing hare on top, provoking thoughts about gravity, balance, and weight.
Rebar 12, 2017, by Monika Sosnowska
These tangled and hanging steel ropes are easy to miss, and underneath this great oak tree was a class of students learning English who did not realise the sculpture overhead.
Moment Without You, 2017, by Tracey Emin
I struggled to photograph this one with the large group of students and the bright sunlight, but each of the metal rods contains a songbird on top. The birds represent freedom.
Stress (2004) by Yoan Capote
Apparently this sculpture is set using casts of real teeth, including the artist's own wisedom teeth to create a concrete stacked block.
'Outdoor Miner', 2018, by Simon Periton
This intricate sculpture of a leaf contains the brightly-coloured interior of the veins of the leaf.
London Rococo (2012) by Dan Graham
The mirrored glass encourages the viewer to become a part of the artwork and step inside the cube.
A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir, 2014, by Kimsooja
This is a giant needle and it appears as though it has come from a great distance and has a space-like quality about it.
il Volatile (2018) by Kathleen Ryan
This was another difficult to photograph sculpture due to the number of people lying around it. The artist creates items by combining unlikely combinations, and this sculpture is a result of this merging.
Everything is Lost, 2018, by Tim Etchells
The loose letters dangle about, giving the message its meaning.
No. 814, 2018, by Rana Begum
Light in colour creates a wonderful effect of this sculpture, and it also projected other visitors back into the glass, causing reflections.
Untitled (122 x 244 View), 2018, by Virgina Overton
The steel framework is a work of art with its patterns and colours of cut pipes of different sizes. The artwork can also be interacted with to enjoy the park from different views in peeking through the pipes.
Penguin, 2018, by John Baldessari
According to the board information about the piece, the artist becomes the penguin. It is meant to be a funny sculpture.
Seer (Alice I), 2005, by Kiki Smith
The book "Alice in Wonderland", religion, and fantasy, inspired this sculpture of a young girl who looks like a model from the 1700s.
Frieze Sculpture in Regent's Park is always a fun afternoon out, and this year did not disappoint although I felt that the range of sculptures last year were slightly more appealing. Last year included many larger scale sculptures while many of the sculptures this year were smaller in size and possibly a bit lacking in impression or inspiration to me personally. It's still worth an afternoon out, of course.
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