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[title]Ah, autumn, when the drizzle gets pumpkin spiced and the mould starts creeping back into your bathroom. But as we wave a sad goodbye to the warm weather, we also get to say a cosy, cheery hello to Frieze Sculpture, a now-regular way of feeling less miserable that winter is coming. Curated as usual by Claire Lilley from Yorkshire Sculpture Park, this year’s free installation of big public artworks is as strong as ever, and it’s totally free to visit. The works are dotted around Regents Park and feature some seriously big names. Here are five works you shouldn’t miss.
Five artworks to see at Frieze Sculpture 2022
Emma Hart, ‘Big Time’, 2022
Sundials are a genuinely pointless idea in this damp, grey, moss-choked country – when do we ever get to see the sun?! But that hasn’t stopped the brilliant Emma Hart from making a whole bunch of them for Regents Park this autumn. And guess what, they’re gorgeous, funny and anthropomorphic, and they add some much needed colour to Regents Park.
Ugo Rondinone, ‘Yellow Blue Monk’, 2020
This Swiss-born artist creates big, ultra-bright totems of primary coloured rocks, like Stonehenge done by 4 year olds. This giant menhir doesn’t stray too far from his usual artistic path; a big slab of blue rock with a little blob of yellow plonked on top. Playful, direct, childish and a lot of fun.
John Wood and Paul Harrison, ‘10 signs for a park’, 2022
Cheeky work from playful, funny, punny duo John Wood and Paul Harrison, who’ve spent their whole careers making visual art non sequiturs that toy with viewers’ expectations. It’s some very clever and very nice light relief in an art world that is often relentlessly stuffy.
Matthew Darbyshire, ‘Hercules Meets Galatea’, 2022
The idea in Matthew Darbyshire’s two-part sculpture of Hercules and Galatea is that in rendering him all rough and static-y, and her all smooth and strong, the work challenges traditional relationships of dominance, in society and history. Hmmm, not convinced. But it’s an impressive-looking thing anyway.
Ron Arad, ‘Dubito Ergo Cogito’, 2022
Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’, depicting a nude man lost in contemplation, is one of the most famous, iconic sculptures in history. Ron Arad has done away with the thinker himself for this work, leaving behind only the thinker’s seat, so now you get to have a go at plonking your arse down and have a good long consider.
Frieze Sculpture is at Regents Park. Free.
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