This week, Times Square Arts debuted Grounded in the Stars, a new 12-foot-tall bronze sculpture by British artist Thomas J Price. The work, depicting a figure with a matt black finish, will be installed at Broadway and 46th Street through June 17th. It marks Price’s first public artwork in New York City and coincides with his debut solo exhibition with Hauser & Wirth, “Resilience of Scale,” which runs until June 14th.
Price is known for his large-scale sculptures that interrogate identity, monumentality, and representation. Grounded in the Stars, which depicts a woman with hair in braids and everyday clothing, represents a stark contrast to the plaza’s pedestaled monuments of white men. The contrapposto pose is intended as a reference to Michelangelo’s David (ca. 1501–04).
“Times Square stands as an iconic symbol and site of convergence, uniting people from all walks of life, individual stories, and experiences intersecting on a global platform,” Price said in a press statement. “he intention of my public works is to become part of the place they inhabit and its physical, material history, as well as the visitors that pass through and around the location, no matter how fleeting.”
Time Square Arts will also present Price’s stop-motion animation “Man Series” across more than 90 billboards. Part of the organization’s “Midnight Moment” program, the animation will run nightly from 11:57 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. from May 1st to 31st. The animation works will feature six clay heads of Black men against pitch-black backgrounds. These faces are enlivened with subtle eye and facial movements, drawing attention to how we perceive people.
“I hope Grounded in the Stars and ‘Man Series’ will instigate meaningful connections and bind intimate emotional states that allow for deeper reflection around the human condition and greater cultural diversity,” Price said.
Price’s inaugural solo show with Hauser & Wirth features five colossal bronze sculptures—some reaching 12 feet tall—at the gallery’s Wooster Street location.
Correction: Thomas J Price’s show at Hauser & Wirth was originally meant to feature 18 framed images alongside his sculptures. However, the gallery is presenting the bronze sculptures alone. The article has been updated to reflect this change.
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