Numen (Shifting Votive One & Two)

Thomas J Price

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About the Artwork

In the “Numen” series Price continues his exploration of a new mythology in which the ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian traditions of monumental sculpture are deployed in the depiction of the twenty-first century social subject. In an exciting departure from his previous use of cast Bronze, Price has created three large cast aluminium heads raised to eye-level on marble columns. They immediately announce themselves as archetypal objects of worship in a modern age, fashioned from the same fabric as MacBooks, coke cans, cars and planes – a whole array of thoroughly untraditional and un-museumlike objects. Yet, in their emotional depth and arresting monumentality these anonymous portraits assert the value of the depicted subject, powerfully subverting traditional social and aesthetic hierarchies.

 

Artist interview

Year: 2016


Copyright the artist, courtesy of Hales London. Photo: © Nick Turpin

Material

Aluminium, Marble

Dimensions

187 x 58 x 70 cm, 182 x 57 x 63 cm, 187 x 61 x 69 cm

Artist Biography

Thomas J Price

Price's work across media, encompassing sculpture, film and photography, is engaged with issues of representation and perception, in society and in art. Since 2005, he has been creating figurative sculptures which function as psychological portraits of his imagined subjects – usually male, usually black – whose features are in fact an amalgamation of sources: observed individuals, 'types' represented in the media, and ancient, classical and neo-classical sculptures. Whether full-length bodies or depicted from the neck up, scaled down or up, sculpted or filmed, Price's figures invite the viewer into their minds and into an appreciation of their formal beauty, thereby confronting conventional cultural associations, assumptions and archetypes. Selected solo exhibitions have been held at institutions including the National Portrait Gallery (London), Mac Birmingham (UK), Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK), Harewood House (UK) and Hales Gallery (London / NY). Private and public collections including Government Art Collection (UK), Derwent London (UK), Murderme (UK) and the Rennie Collection (Canada), and a group show at Royal Academy of Arts (London).