If you walk past the southeast corner of Central Park in the near future, you might find a grocery list. Not the crinkled paper you drop somewhere in aisle nine on your way to pick up weekday lunch supplies. This grocery list is on a monstrous… tombstone? A 17-foot high granite tombstone.You know, the monolithic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, monkeys-discovering-tools tombstone kind of grocery list. Some items on this very big, very public grocery list: mayo, carrots, diapers, and of course, shelf brackets.
Bonappetit.com reports on the latest piece of art that was unveiled yesterday. It is by Artist David Shrigley and is called “Memorial” and can be viewed by all in the Doris C. Freedman Plaza. It will remain standing for the better part of a year, sponsored by the Public Art Fund, an organization that brings contemporary public art to public spaces.
Shrigley, who lives in the U.K., was at a slight disadvantage with American consumers. “I realized that my original shopping list was very British. I asked all of my friends in New York City to send me a shopping list, their real shopping lists,” explains Shrigley. He then comprised a master list with his friends, weeding out non-universal products. “We took off things like rice wine vinegar and replaced them with things like ketchup. It became a bit more of an every-man shopping list. To see photos as well as to read the article in its entirety, click here.