“High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.” So begins the best-known children’s story by the renowned literary figure, Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). It seems fitting that British artist Ryan Gander (b. 1976) has taken inspiration for his first public commission from the tale of an enchanted monument. Gander’s work often explores the currents that flow between language, imagination, and art. Here he has re-imagined the final, climactic moments of Wilde’s story where the statue is destroyed. Aided by a friendly swallow, the prince has given away all of his jewels and gilding to alleviate the suffering of the city’s poor. No longer impressive to city officials, Wilde’s denuded metal statue is melted down.
In Gander’s version, the statue appears to be stone; the fallen swallow and the prince’s indestructible heart lie amidst the rubble. On closer inspection we see that the “ruin” is a single massive object: a sculpture of a ruin. In this way, it functions like a plastic toy ruin, at once descriptive and frankly artificial. Gander’s wry evocation of Wilde’s tale still resonates in our own period of economic inequality. At the same time, it presents a contemporary approach to sculpture, where the role of the public monument remains an open question.
Nicholas Baume
Director & Chief Curator
Ryan Gander Artist Talk
Ryan Gander will launch the fall 2010 Public Art Fund Talks series on Thursday, September 16 at 6:30pm with one of his celebrated Loose Associations presentations. In the form of a narrated PowerPoint presentation, the artist strings together a series of images, memories, facts, and histories in a hybrid performance-lecture. These intense and sometimes comedic presentations have taken place across Europe, most recently as part of Art Basel’s new Art Parcours project.
Thursday, September 16, 6:30pm
The New School
John Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
(between 5th and 6th Aves)
Tickets $10; students free
To purchase advance tickets:
Visit www.publicartfund.org
or call 212.223.7800
Public Art Fund Talks are organized by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
Download the full press release
Sponsorship
Major support for Ryan Gander’s The Happy Prince is provided by the Kraus Family Foundation.
Additional support from Lisson Gallery, and from James Keith Brown & Eric G. Diefenbach.
This installation is made possible through the cooperation of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; and the Central Park Conservancy.
Public Art Fund is a non-profit organization supported by contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, and with funds from government agencies, including the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
About Public Art Fund
The Public Art Fund is New York’s leading presenter of artists’ projects, new commissions, and exhibitions in public spaces. For over 30 years the Public Art Fund has been committed to working with emerging and established artists to produce innovative exhibitions of contemporary art throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time.
Ryan Gander at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
As part of the Guggenheim’s Intervals series, Gander has created a new, site-specific installation for the Aye Simon Reading Room, a small library and study space located on Rotunda Level 2. Here visitors will encounter a scene of apparent catastrophe that relates to Gander’s ongoing exploration of the schism between the Dutch artists Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) and Theo van Doesburg (1883–1931), who ended their friendship and creative collaboration over a disagreement about the validity of the diagonal line as an element in abstract art. Fast-paced and modest in scale, Intervals is an experimental series at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum designed to reflect the spirit of today’s most innovative practices. Conceived to take place in the interstices of the museum’s exhibition spaces, in individual galleries, or beyond the physical confines of the building, the program invites a diverse range of artists to create new work for a succession of solo presentations. For more information, visit www.guggenheim.org.