Bond Street’s Opera Gallery will present three outstanding sculptures by Manolo Valdés, Anthony James and Seo Young-Deok this October as part of the Mayfair Sculpture Trail.
Mayfair Sculpture Trail offers an exciting opportunity for families to enjoy art on the streets of Mayfair. You can find sculptures in iconic London locations such as Bond Street, Cork Street, Burlington Arcade and Berkeley Square as well as the tree-lined grandeur of Grosvenor Square. There will be audio commentary and information on each artwork available through QR codes and on SMARTIFY.
Situated in Grosvenor Square is Seo Young-Deok’s meticulous manipulation of the iron chains in Meditation 1554. Each iron piece is welded together to become a part of the dynamic system of interconnectivity exhibited in human forms. While the material may be physically strong, the true strength exhibited is that of the human spirit. The exceptional work by acclaimed Korean artist often showcases the suffering and decay from the experience of his family’s generation working in Korea’s industrialisation era.
Two more of the Opera Gallery’s sculptural treasures are just a stone’s throw away on Bond Street including Manolo Valdés’ Reina Mariana. As one of Spain’s most famous living artists, Manolo Valdés finds inspiration from old masterpieces by the likes of Velázquez, Rembrandt or Goya, using them as a pretext for creating a new aesthetic. His work possesses the quality of timelessness, creating connections between the past and present, the old and the new. In Reina Mariana, Valdés re-contextualises Diego Velázquez’s Queen Mariana (1652-1653) – a highly recognisable portrait of the second wife of Felipe IV. The change in morphology and meaning that occurs throughout Valdés’ representations of Velázquez’s image can be seen in this work.
On display beside Bond Street’s Louis Vuitton store is a mesmerising LED glass vitrine by world-renowned light sculptor Anthony James. James took the concept of crystallisation, one that is found in nature, and used computer programming to mimic naturally forming polycrystalline shapes. The artist allowed an organic digitisation which parallels crystals formation, even allowing for external influences to cause variations. The sculpture’s multifaceted mirrors, glass and hallucinogenic surfaces allow the public to engage with the work with its meditative and limitless qualities.
Other highlights of the Mayfair Sculpture Trail also include Antony Gormley’s ‘Cinch’ perched on the north façade of Burlington Arcade and Henry Moore’s ‘Time-Life Screen’ above Hermès – what was Time Life Building – also on New Bond Street.
The Mayfair Sculpture Trail is a collaboration with Westminster City Council and Art in Mayfair, and in partnership with Burlington Arcade, Cork Street Galleries, Wander Art, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, and Art of London. It has been created with the enormous support of the galleries (Opera Gallery, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Gazelli Art House, JD Malat Gallery, Waddington Custot, The Mayor Gallery + Gormley’s Fine Art, and Timothy Taylor) and their artists, in partnership with which we are delighted to present the artworks which follow.
The sculpture trail is free and on until 31st of October. More info can be found here.