Sculpture in the City returns to London featuring Nathan Coley, Elisa Artesero, Nina Saunders and Lawrence Weiner

Now in its ninth year, Sculpture in the City returns to the City of London this June featuring works from internationally renowned artists including Nathan Coley, Elisa Artesero, Nina Saunders and Lawrence Weiner.

Written By: Tora Baker

29 May 2019

The artworks will be displayed next to some of the area's most famous buildings, including 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin), The Leadenhall Building (the Cheesegrater), as well as new public spaces opening this year, including 70 St Mary Axe and Aldgate Square.

Spread across the Square Mile, they range greatly in form, scale and medium. And you'll also be able to see works from last year, including Do Ho Suh’s Bridging Home, London (2018) a co-commission by Art Night and Sculpture in the City, Nancy Rubins’ Crocodylius Philodendrus (2016-17), Clare Jarret’s Sari Garden (2018), and Juliana Cerqueira Leite’s Climb (2011).

Kevin Francis Gray will present Reclining Nude I (2016), which marks a turning point in his practice away from figuration and classicism. Situated in St Botolph’s-without-Bishopsgate Churchyard, the work explores the materiality of marble and offers a fresh take on ancient stone-carving techniques. Further along the road, Bridging Home, London (2018) Do Ho Suh’s site-specific installation, is a replica of a traditional Korean house, his childhood home, which appears to have "fallen" onto the Wormwood Street footbridge.

Salvatore Arancio, It Was Only a Matter of Time Before We Found the Pyramid and Forced it Open, (2017), courtesy of the artist and Federica Schiavo Gallery, photography by Andrea Rossetti

© Nancy Rubins, Crocodylius Philodendrus, (2016-17), courtesy of the artist and Gagosian

Stag Night by Michael Lyons will be displayed on the corner of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street. A fascinating sculpture developed from a drawing residency in Grizedale Forest in Cumbria, it transforms the light and shade of the original drawings into the solid and void of the sculpture; its configuration makes reference to animals, masks and cavorting forms.

Leo Fitzmaurice, meanwhile, will present Arcadia (2007) in three locations across the City of London: 99 Bishopsgate, Lime Street, and the Plaza outside of Fenchurch Street Station. Arcadia is a multi-part sculpture based on the conventions of UK public signage, exploring how these objects are designed to communicate within a given environment.

© Do Ho Suh, Bridging Home, London (2018), courtesy of the artist; Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong and Seoul; Victoria Miro, London/Venice, photography by Gautier Deblonde

Patrick Tuttofuoco, The Source, (2017), courtesy of the artist, OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni and Federica Schiavo Gallery, photography by Andrea Rossetti

Within a Realm of Relative Form by Lawrence Weiner will be situated at the Cheesegrater. Inspired by the language and words written across public spaces in the South Bronx, Weiner’s work is reformed and informed by the location in which it is exhibited.

Around the corner, Nina Saunders’ Abstract Mass (2008) will be situated on Undershaft. By casting these discarded and second-hand armchairs in concrete, Saunders captures the original while playing light-heartedly on visitors' expectations of comfort. Recreated in life-size, the work emphasises the vast scale of the surrounding buildings.

Nathan Coley will present The Same for Everyone (2017) near the Gherkin in Cunnard Place, a work from his important ongoing series of illuminated texts. In this series, Coley pairs provocative and ambiguous found phrases and the surroundings in which they are displayed to influence how viewers might understand the work.

Finally, in a newly-pedestrianised space outside 70 St Mary Axe, Elisa Artesero will present The Garden of Floating Words (2017) a neon poem that appears to float in the darkness from within the foliage of garden space. During the daytime, the words are revealed to be on tall rectangular acrylic stands while at night, the words alone become the main feature. Discover more at www.sculptureinthecity.org.uk.