Sculpture in the City is a public sculpture trail that runs from May each year and is located in London's Square Mile, the City of London. Sculpture in the City is in its ninth year this year and has featured artists such as Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Ai Weiwei, and Tracey Emin and newer talent. I've been visiting the sculpture trail every year for the past few years, and I visited this year's trail a couple of weeks ago. Like previous years, a couple of the sculptures were shown the previous year so that visitors had a second chance to see the sculptures.
This sculpture was on display for last year's sculpture trail and was created from the inside out. The obeslisk was made inside a wooden column filled with wet clay, and the artist dug her way out to leave behind this tunnel. Inprints of hands, legs, and knees can be seen in the shape.
'Climb' by Juliana Cerquiera Leite
'Dutch/Light' was commisioned to mark 350 years of the Dutch raid on the river Medway in Kent, which ended the Anglo-Dutch wars. The sculpture is made of Plexiglass panels where light reflects through and changes depending on the day. The Dutch represents the orange colour, and green represents England in this artwork.
'Dutch/Light' by Jyll Bradley
This sculpture 'Sari Garden' was on display last year. It shows a large piece of cloth strung out along the street between lamp posts. It represents women and domestic life. It mimics laundry hanging out to dry.
'Sari Garden' by Clare Jarrett
Coley's work enhances the architecture of the sculpture and gives it meaning. The illuminated text reads 'the same for everyone', which allows the user to come up with their own meaning on the words. Is it a question or a utopian ideal?
'The Same for Everyone' by Nathan Coley
This neon sculpture was previously on display in Bristol and moved around the city to various locations picked by the public. It has also produced its own printed shirts, paintings, and fan base. The sculpture was also a part of the Sculpture in the City last year.
'I'm Staying' by Shaun C. Badham
This artwork, known as 'Arcadia' is a multi-part sculpture based on public signs. The artist, Leo Fitzmaurice, wishes to see how the sculptures relate to the space around them.
'Arcadia' by Leo Fitzmaurice
This artwork is a fragment of windows made of primary colour see-through material. The measurements of the windows are from the Sampaio Ferreira textile factory, which is located in northern Portugal. The piece is interactive as the window panes can move, and each placement provides a different set of colours and views to look through.
'Series Industrial Windows I' by Marisa Ferreira
This neon sign sculpture shows hand gestures, giving it a social context in the placement in this public space above Leadenhall Market.
'The Source' by Patrick Tuttofuoco
This sculpture appears to be a series of stickers stuck onto the glass windows of the Leadenhall Building. These read: WITHIN A REALM OF RELATIVE FORM, A PURSUIT OF A FORM, AN ESSENTIAL COMPRESSION OF A FORM, AN ESSENTIAL EXPANSION OF A FORM, A DEGRADATION OF A FORM, AN OBJECTIFICATION OF WHICHSOEVER FORM, ALL TOGETHER NOW.
'Within a Realm of Relative Form' by Lawrence Weiner
Nina Saunders creates sculptures of everyday domestic objects. 'Abstract Mass' is a sculpture of chairs made of concrete. The chair appears to be comfortable upholstery, but this is actually just an illusion and is easy to see up close that it is cold and hard concrete. Saunders pushes the boundaries of private and public space and uses the material to help convey this sense of loneliness and placement.
'Abstract Mass' by Nina Saunders
This is a colourful sculpture inspired by the lava trees of Lava Trees State Park in Hawaii. The sculptures appear to be coming out of boulders on the ground.
'It Was Only a Matter of Time Before We Found the Pyramid and Forced it Open' by Salvatore Arancio
'Bridging Home, London' is an scupture commissioned in 2018 and was a part of last year's Sculpture in the City. The Korean house with bamboo garden was constructed by Do Ho Suh and represents a sense of displacement and integration. The little house appears to have fallen onto the footbridge on which it is placed. The theme of the work is migration to the City of London and East London, and the traditional building contrasts to the modern London architecture.
'Bridging Home London' by Do Ho Suh
This sculpture, 'Stagnight', was developed from drawings that that artist made while in Grizedale Forest in Cumbria in 1984. It was inspired by the drawings of trees and the shadows/silhouettes produced by light and shade of the trees. The 'stag' refers to a stag watching the artist but can also mean a 'stag night'. The sculpture presents the trees on top of a transport cart.
'Stagnight' by Michael Lyons
'Reclining Nude I' is an abstract and heavily-stylised reclining woman carved out of white marble. It is located off Bishopsgate in a churchyard.
'Reclining Nude I' by Kevin Francis Gray
This artwork is a neon poem made of neon blue letters, which appear to float in mid-air. The context changes in the night where the lights float more, and in the day, the garden becomes part of the artwork. It reads: "you've gone touching leaves in the moonlight".
'The Garden of Floating Words' by Elisa Artesero
This is one of twelve sculptures in a study of the Renaissance sculpture. It was also influenced by the Vietnam war where images came from and then recreated for the artwork.
'Site of the Fall - Study of a Renaissance Garden' by Reza Aramesh
Projected onto the ceiling of 120 Fenchurch Street courtyard is this beautiful botanic garden. It was inspired by the garden plans of the Stanford Wildflower Seeding Project and garden at Stanford Hospital. The flowers are animated, colliding with each other and breaking apart. This artwork was on display in July only.
'Botanic' by Jennifer Steinkamp
'Crocodylius Philodendrus' is a cluster of animal forms (deer, crocodiles, pigs, tortoises, zebras) that appear to be floating in air or life-size shapes of a child's toy animals. This sculpture was a part of last year's sculpture trail.
'Crocodylius Philodendrus' by Nancy Rubins
There is one more sculpture that will only be on display in the autumn. Much like the 'Botanic' sculpture, a couple of the sculptures only appear for a limited time.
Previous years of London's Sculpture in the City are included below:
Leave a comment