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10/11/2007

Sarah Lucas

Doris C. Freedman Plaza, New York

Perceval

This November, Public Art Fund will present the first public installation in North America by British artist Sarah Lucas at Doris C. Freedman Plaza. The large-scale sculpture of a horse and cart will be on view at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the entrance to Central Park, from November 11 through May 1, 2008. A leading figure of the infamous Young British Artists (YBAs), Lucas is one of the most significant contemporary artists working in London today. This installation marks her first outdoor exhibition in New York.

Perceval is a life-sized bronze sculpture of a Shire horse pulling a cart overflowing with two oversized marrows, or squash. The piece stands 7.5 feet tall by 13 feet long, and weighs 5 tons. The largest breed of draft horses, Shires are also frequently used in official and ceremonial processions by the Royal cavalries. At once an homage to and satire of English culture, the piece is a replica of a popular knick-knack that adorns many mantelpieces in the UK; the subject matter reflects Lucas' predilection for reexamining everyday objects in unusual contexts. The installation of Perceval at the entrance to Central Park, where horse drawn carriages line-up daily to offer guided visits of New York, plays off of its urban and pedestrian surroundings. The giant marrows are cast in cement, one of Lucas' favored materials, providing a striking contrast to the high finish of the painted bronze sculpture. However, here Lucas plays with scale, rendering the vegetables almost equal in size to the horse that pulls them.

Perceval reflects the artist's fascination with British culture, which is evident in much of her work, while nodding to literary tradition. Perceval is the name of the knight in King Arthur's court who unknowingly discovers the Holy Grail (the cup from which Christ is believed to drink at the Last Supper) and the narrator in Alfred Tennyson's 1870 work The Holy Grail. More contemporary references include T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, in which the eponymous hero is the one to recover the spear used to pierce Christ during his crucifixion.

Sarah Lucas was born in 1962 and lives and works in London. She studied at London College of Printmaking and fine arts at Goldsmith's College. She is among the influential Young British Artists (YBAs) of the 1990s, along with Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Tracey Emin and others. Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, including Tate Modern, Serpentine Gallery, and White Cube Gallery, all in London, as well as Kunsthalle Zurich, and Kunstverein Hamburg. Lucas had her last New York exhibition at Gladstone Gallery in 2005.

Location and Directions
Perceval is on view at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the entrance to Central Park. Subways: N, R to Fifth Avenue; 4, 5, 6 to 59th St/Lexington Ave. The work is free to the public and is on view daily.

Doris C. Freedman Plaza is named for the founder of the Public Art Fund and has been the site of more than 40 artist projects and commissions, featuring works by both internationally known and emerging artists including Sarah Sze, Richard Deacon, Paul McCarthy, Juan Muñoz, Keith Edmier, Mark Handforth and Chinatsu Ban. The most recent project at Doris C. Freedman Plaza is Damián Ortega's Obelisco Transportable, on view through October 28, 2007.

Sponsorship

This exhibition is made possible through the cooperation of the City of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor; Patricia E. Harris, First Deputy Mayor; and Department of Parks & Recreation, Adrian Benepe, Commissioner.

Special thanks to Sadie Coles HQ, London, and Gladstone Gallery, New York.

Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Fifth Avenue and 60th Street (at the entrance to Central Park) - New York

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