Barnaby Barford's Twisted Trafalgar Square

Irreverent UK sculptor Barnaby Barford has just completed his largest piece to date. An installation comprised of 22 individual pieces, the work reflects his view of the corruption of London's Trafalgar Square.



Impish and sweet characters engage in vandalism, littering, violence, self-abuse and more in this sculptured narrative. Babies booze it up, little girls shoot rats for fun and muggings run rampant in this miniature world. Brandishing everything from alcohol to guns, the ceramic and enamel-painted subjects, who resemble Hummel figurines gone bad, are placed atop round slabs of concrete (this is the first time Barford has used concrete in his work).















As described on the artist's site:

Trafalgar Square has been described as the blank slab upon which Britain has inscribed it's modern history, in Barford's version Drink, Violence, Consumerism, Junk food, Protest and Terrorism all inhabit this world.

In the piece's centre is a Lion looking a great deal sadder than the ones in the real Trafalgar Square - It has been covered in graffiti. The piece is formalised by 4 columns with cherubs on top, each covered in pigeons and bird shit. The rest of the piece comprises of 22 individual pieces, each a vignette of contemporary life. The saccharine figurines have been transformed from chocolate box, romantic images of life into a new, jarring narrative. Added tension is given to the piece in the form of a loan sports bag, entitled unattended luggage. This is the first time Barford has attempted such a big scene and introduces concrete into his aesthetic.

The individual pieces (click on each to enlarge):














views of the overall installation:



Barnaby Barford's Battle Of Trafalgar Square is on view at the OA Gallery from 28th April - 30th June 2010


above: The Battle Of Trafalger Square, 2010, at the OA Gallery in Madrid

OA Gallery
Justiniano 8
28004 Madrid

Barnaby Barford

Golden Girl: Artist Marc Quinn Unveils 18k Gold Statue of Kate Moss

An 18 karat gold sculpture of model Kate Moss in a yoga position is hardly my idea of a worthwhile way to spend approximately 2.75 million US dollars. But that's the estimated value of artist Marc Quinn's latest incarnation of his contorted life-sized Kate Moss figure.



Above: Marc Quinn with "Kate" aka Siren.

Unveiled this morning in the British Museum as part of the Statuephilia exhibition, the work, entitled Siren, was created by sculptor Marc Quinn, best known for his sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which stood on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.



Above: Marc Quinn's most well-known sculpture, 'Alison Lapper Pregnant', in Trafalgar Square.

The statue of Moss, described as an “Aphrodite of our times”, now stands in the British Museum’s Nereid Gallery alongside legendary Greek heroines such as the Crouching Venus, a statue of Venus caught bathing.



The sculpture, which is hollow, weighs about as much as the supermodel herself according to the artist, and is believed to be the largest gold statue made in the world since Ancient Egyptian times.



Quinn said of his choice of Moss as a subject: “I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment. "

This isn't the first time Marc Quinn has used the iconic model in his work. He originally cast Kate in white-washed bronze in 2005 and called it Sphinx (shown below).


Above: 2005, Sphinx, from all angles.



The golden Kate, who stands in a yoga position, is not alone in the exhibition in the British Museum. She has 200 Damien Hirst skulls for company, which commandeer the historic wall cases of the Enlightenment Gallery (shown below).


Above: Damien Hirst's "Cornucopia" and a Noble and Webster work, sculpted entirely from mummified animal parts.


Above: Anthony Gormley's Case for an Angel I, the precusor to his celebrated winged sculpture, iconic Angel of the North, fills the front hall of the museum.


The Statuephilia exhibition of contemporary sculptures will run at the British Museum from October 4 to January 25