Public Art Fund announces MEMORIAL, a new public artwork by British artist David Shrigley that taps into both the absurd potential and poignant nature of the everyday. Commissioned for Doris C. Freedman Plaza, the 17-foot-tall granite sculpture will rise in front of the southeast entrance to the Central Park with a shopping list engraved on its surface.
“Public monuments are familiar features of parks and plazas across the world and enable communities to celebrate, remember, or pay homage to great endeavors or individuals. In MEMORIAL, however, David has chosen to celebrate one of the most familiar acts in many of our daily lives: the jotting down of a grocery list,” said Public Art Fund Associate Curator Emma Enderby, who organized the exhibition. “By memorializing a list in this way, the work pays homage both to no-one and to everyone —it’s a simple ode to humanity”.
An internationally acclaimed artist best known for his simple and unique drawing style, Shrigley works in a variety of mediums including photography, sculpture, and film, along with public commissions, artist publications, and collaborative music projects. He is known for embracing everyday situations and typical human interactions to create self-reflexive artworks, which comment on the often-banal nature of our contemporary experience.
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