I didn’t manage to make it to Trafalgar Square for the 9am unveiling of Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 last Thursday but I did amble along in the afternoon while they were clearing away from the pomp and circumstance of the morning. Tourists were giving the work a casual glance as if it had been there for years, nobody seemed too perturbed by the latest fourth plinth sculpture, shining resplendent in the sun.
This, the 8th commission, by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, is a 4.1m high, golden bronze sculpture of a boy astride a rocking horse.
Elmgreen & Dragset, Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, 2011. Own photograph.
The fourth plinth was originally intended for a bronze equestrian statue and the installation of this new work directly engages with the history of the plinth itself, taking it back to its roots. The planned sculpture in the 1840s was of King William IV but now a child has been elevated to the status of the other heroes honoured in Trafalgar Square. The work celebrates heroism – the heroism of youth and of growing up, asking us to look at events in our life that we often skip over without due reflection. The child plays on his horse, conquering the world and leading his imaginary army to victory.
Elmgreen & Dragset, Powerless Structures, Fig. 101, 2011. Own photograph.
I don’t think the designers of the fourth plinth ever envisaged an equestrian statue like this. Elmgreen & Dragset are gently mocking tradition but, at the same time, they have modernised it without being patronising, successfully engaging with past purpose and intention. The monument cannot honour the figure’s history as he is only a child so it honours his future. Cheeky? Yes. Derogatory? No. With a raised arm referencing classical works of the past, the work is both contemporary and historical.
Trafalgar Square. Own photograph.
It’s not my favourite piece to adorn the plinth and I do now rather miss Yinka’s boat but Powerless Structures is not offensive and I see why the Mayor’s Office may have wanted a relatively tame piece up for the Olympics. The public are able to instantly engage with this work. It’s obvious, it’s eye-catching, it’s pretty.
After a refreshing cup of tea, I headed over to Hauser & Wirth to catch their two new exhibitions, the openings of which I had missed a couple of nights previously but I hear that their brass band caused quite a stir and a distraction.
Michael Raedecker, pretence, 2012. Own photograph.
The North Gallery is showing a selection of works by Michael Raedecker who pushes the boundaries of his medium, exploiting texture using embroidery interwoven with the painted canvas. The subject matter isn’t the most exciting – abstracted scenes of suburban architecture and everyday domesticity such as chandeliers and curtains – but the paintings explore the combination of fine art and craft, of a male painter enlivening a feminine craft. There is something melancholic and unsettling about some of his scenes, shimmering worlds on distressed, punctured canvases where his use of silver paint adds a new dimension to the works. The paintings seek to evade a specific interpretation or genre; they pull you in but they don’t quite have the required emotional intensity to keep you there.
Michael Raedecker, detail of strip, 2012. Own photograph.
People seemed to be using Hauser as a resting place and, at times, the window ledge was busier than the gallery.
Hauser & Wirth’s window ledge. Own photograph.
In Hauser’s South Gallery are works by Mary Heilmann – paintings, ceramics and her distinctive chairs. Heilmann’s paintings conjure a diverse range of moods and atmospheres; they tell her on-going life story, recalling long road-trips or her visits to the sea, watching the wild waves break on the shore. Rather than seeing her works as individual entities, Heilmann views the entire show as an installation piece and visitors are incorporated in the work. This explains the chairs! Ironically, no-one had stopped for a rest in these. Heilmann wants people to sit down, relax and enjoy the work but the chairs didn’t look particularly stable and, although the security guards encouraged me to do so (with wry smiles) I didn’t fancy the chances of lowering myself into them wearing these boots; I had visions of rolling across the entire gallery.
Mary Heilmann at Hauser & Wirth. Own photograph.
Neither of these Hauser exhibitions has that ‘je ne sais quoi’ to keep me in the galleries very long. I headed further down Savile Row to Situation, a new gallery at Sadie Coles HQ. Devoted to the work of Sarah Lucas, Situation (just above the normal gallery space but accessed through a separate door) will show her new installations in February, May, August and November of this year. The space is intentionally shabby – a disused office that has been transformed.
Entering Situation. Own photograph.
The opening exhibition is signature Lucas and recalls her once highly provocative works from the 1990s – sculptures using found domestic objects where fried eggs and a chicken reference her early works about sexual stereotyping.
Sarah Lucas at Situation. Own photograph.
Her new works use the same things we’re used to and stuffed tights play a strong role in Viz. Nice Tits where concrete casts of thigh-high boots stand on the floor. Above them hangs a metal grill filled with stuffed tights in the shape of boobs and phalluses.
Sarah Lucas, Viz. Nice Tits, 2011. Own photograph.
The space is only small but I get the feeling Lucas is reeling us in and will expand over the year. What will she do in May? Make a bigger bang, I imagine.
Sarah Lucas in MumMum, 2012. Courtesy of Ben Springett.
In the conventional gallery space, there is an exhibition of new glazed ceramics by Paloma Varga Weisz. Upstairs is quite calm and the works are small, muted and could be mistaken for decorative whereas downstairs is more overt. Mother shows a figure in a shroud lying on a table, captured ambiguously in sleep or death, either emerging from or receding into the slab beneath.
Paloma Varga Weisz, Mother, 2011. Own photograph.
I had hoped for some more excitement but nothing that afternoon really enlivened me. My sore feet needed a taxi to carry on to the tunnels for week three of VAULT.
Michael Raedecker: volume and Mary Heilmann: Visions, Waves and Roads are both at Hauser & Wirth, Savile Row until 5th April 2012, www.hauserwirth.com. Situation is on the first floor of 4 New Burlington Place for all of 2012, www.sadiecoles.com. Paloma Varga Weisz is at Sadie Coles HQ until 25th February 2012, www.sadiecoles.com.
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