The National Portrait Gallery is to present a selection of contemporary artist Thomas J. Price’s sculptural work from the last five years in a new display, running from the 24th June until the 5th September.
A selection of sculptures depicting black London men with modern accessories by Thomas J. Price will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery from next month it has been announced.
The works have been created in bronze and large-scale aluminium by the 34 year old artist and are fictitious characters, given an identity based on the areas that the artist has worked in such as Hackney, Brixton, Dalston and Deptford.
This display, which includes six representative works from the last five years, reveals how Price has created each character with a seemingly plausible persona, yet the subjects all have invented identities.
As well as being constructed with the help of people he has observed on the street, from magazine images or from historic sculpture, each of the works have been given titles with historic or mythic associations – making the ordinary into the heroic.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, says, “We are delighted to present this display at the Gallery and to be able to show for the first time Price’s remarkable work, fusing the modern with classical, sculptural traditions.”
Thomas J. Price: Now You See Me is the latest in a series of annual summer displays by contemporary artists which have included the work of Ishbel Myerscough and Chantal Joffe, and Catherine Goodman, and Alex Katz, supported by the William Brake Charitable Trust.
Thomas J. Price, says, “The National Portrait Gallery is home to hundreds of images of those considered remarkable or inspirational. By exhibiting a selection of sculptures depicting anonymous fictional characters in this context, my aim is to present the viewer with an alternative and challenging perspective to the archetypal consensus of greatness – one that will encourage visitors to explore their own processes of perceiving character.”
This free display will be on display to the public from the 24th June until the 5th September. For more information visit: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2016/thomas-j-price-now-you-see-me.php.