Kara Walker's Fons Americanus Deserves a Close Look

An artist named Kara Walker created a sculpture on display in London that's a "do not miss".

Well, you can't miss it if you go to the Tate Modern because the sculpture is 13 meters high (or 42 feet, for Americans like me who freeze at measurements in meters).

The work is called "Fons Americanus". It's on display in the Turbine Hall in the former power station. 

But size alone does not make the piece. It's a loose copy of the sculpture that graces the circle in front of Buckingham Palace. 

The Queen Victoria Memorial was unveiled in 1911 in honor of her after her death, and glorifying Britain. The elaborate sculpture was funded by gifts from across the British empire---from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

African-American Sculptor Kara Walker was inspired and angered by England's celebration of its holdings spanning the globe. As a descendent of African slaves, she refashioned the slant on British history. Her work showcases different symbols. Calling her version "Fons Americanus," the symbols decorating her memorial include a noose, sharks cruising the waters in search of slaves, and water spewing from the fountain of a severed head. 

The New York Times called Ms. Walker's work a "countermemorial," celebrating the uncredited proceeds from West Africa. 

Unless visitors look at the images, the imposing sculpture can blend into the background like any other giant memorial. People eat their lunch at its base and kids on a school trip look in the other direction.

Bored kids sitting under noose and sharks, not even looking at it

Antony Gormley Tangles with the Royal Academy of Art in London

I was drawn in to a temporary exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London open until December 3, 2019. Having to climb through spirals of wire to cross a gallery looked like fun.

And it was. It could have just as easily been barbed wire in a prison. But instead it was welcoming--bordering on joyful. If the attached youtube launches, you can hear the wires clanging as people climb through.

British sculptor Antony Gormley's work, "Clearing VII" reminded me of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist who peddles in bicycles (pun intended). 

I first noticed Ai Weiwei's work in the lobby of the Mr. and Mrs. Bund restaurant in Shanghai in 2013. A slew of bicycles hung from the ceiling.  

Not long after that, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hosted an exhibit of Ai Weiwei's bicycles. Different bikes. Same medium. Tangles of metal that couldn't be used as intended. 

I wrote a blogpost about Ai Weiwei's two bicycle installations. https://worldgrazer.blogspot.com/search?q=weiwei

All of these works took me back to my roots in Philadelphia, where Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel is in the collection of the Museum of Art. It isn't much of a leap from Duchamp's stool to Weiwei's bikes to Gormley's wire in Clearing VII. 

I'm no art historian, but I'm seeing a theme. Things are not always what they were meant to be. And when they're not, they can puzzle. And they can delight.