Frieze London Sculpture Exhibition
On Sunday 20th October, eight of us met at Great Portland Street station at 10.30am. Although it was a bit wet to start with, that soon cleared and at least it wasn't cold.
The Frieze Sculptures - an annual event that is London's largest free display of outdoor art - are dotted around The English Garden in Regent's Park; this year there were 25 works of art on display, although one was only in situ during the Art Fair, last week, so we missed that.
Bambatha IBy zigzagging across the grass, we visited every piece that was there: a dancer figure that morphed a bird's head onto a human body (albeit one with four arms); a large clay head; a doubled figure that had four arms with the upturned hands holding the 'head' up, four feet and two faces (Seeing Both Sides); a bronze sculpture of the artist encircled by a brass snake-like coil (Bambatha I); split rocks, that came from the Dorset coast, alongside a tall, cast-brass lightning rod (Lightning Rod) that looked like a shell (next to which a linked, free qigong class was taking place as qigong is about cultivating energy from within); a brass bell, in the shape of a calla lily, handing from a tree; the shadow of a tree painted onto the ground in front of it using grass paint (who knew there was such a thing?); metallic structures representing figures uniting land and sea; two towering pillars of ceramic painkiller and psychosis pills; three separate works by one artist, focussing on repetitive movement, which supposedly contain anatomical figures but in which we found elephants, fish and cartoon mice; a stack of bronze balls topped with what was described as an elaborate hairpin; a mosaic inspired by a large mausoleum floor that was recently uncovered in Southwark; a flower head with chicken feet; a black & white chequered table (Materials 0f the Mind Theatre
Materials 0f the Mind Theatre) with what were apparently clay sculptures resembling costumes (but looked like amputated body parts) arranged on it and many more. The painted grass was fascinating and clever, but my highlight was a bright blue half-body, with coloured upright sheets in the head area, a blue bollard set a little way in front of it and a pyramid of brass coil behind (that may or may not be a polished turd) which was all based on Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' (Non-Earthly Delights). I would happily make space in my garden for that.
Ent Non Earthly DelightsWe spent more than an hour and a half looking at all the sculptures, critiquing, admiring, being confused (clearly none of us are refined art experts), laughing, reading all the long, multi-syllable words that were scattered across most of the descriptions and Googling some of the references. Although we understood it, I've since confirmed that matrilineal is a real word. Unsurprisingly, we each liked different pieces, but it was a very enjoyable visit for all.
We then headed to the Wetherspoons pub by Baker Street station and managed to get two large tables next to each other, so we were all seated together. After a pleasant, leisurely lunch, we went our separate ways.
Jill S. 20th October 2024
Seeing Both Sides
Sand
Lightning Rod
Photos by Jill S.