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Art on the Underground
Other | Monday 11th February 2013 | Harry
Mark Wallinger, one of the UK’s leading contemporary artists, has created the biggest ever art commission for London Underground in celebration of its 150th anniversary. If you’re thinking you’ve maybe heard the name before then there’s a good chance you have because Wallinger is most famous for his sculpture on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, ecce homo.
This commission is named ‘Labyrinth’ and it is made up of 270 individual pieces, one for each station on the Tube network. Each artwork bears its own circular labyrinth but with a graphic language common to all. The creations are black and white enamel, using the same materials as signs across the Underground network. At the entrance to each labyrinth is a red X, which is a cue to enter the pathway and see the labyrinth as a single path leading into the centre and out again, similar to that of the tube-goer’s journey. Each artwork also bears a different number which is written in the artist’s own hand. These numbers relate to the ordering system that allocates each artwork to the particular station it is being held at.
The artworks are being gradually installed over the next few months across the Underground stations, with ten in place already at stations such as Kings Cross St. Pancras, Oxford Circus, St. James’s Park,Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Westminster. Keep your eyes peeled.
@harryillers
