New Public Art Installation at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School’s blog published an article this week that highlights a new public art installation on view at HBS’ Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Allston campus until April 2017, featuring four “prominent” contemporary sculptors. Here are details about each of the pieces on display:
(Photo by Susan Young)
Tony Cragg – Over the Earth, 2014 (Bronze) / Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery
Liverpudlian sculptor Tony Cragg has “lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany, since 1977,” where he often works with “stone, wood, glass, aluminum, cast bronze, and found objects” to find “new relations between people and the material world.” In Over the Earth, located at the lawn of the Dean’s House, Cragg explores “how our reality is shaped by technology as well as the changing perspectives and pace of modern life.”
(Photo by Susan Young)
Jaume Plensa – Inés, 2013 (Cast iron) / Courtesy of the artist and Richard Gray Gallery
According to the article, Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa is perhaps best known Stateside for Crown Fountain, his 2004 interactive installation in Chicago’s Millennium Park, which incorporated “1000 LED portraits of Chicago residents.” Plensa’s follow-up was 1004 Portraits, which included “four monumental cast iron portraits of young girls [that] change and shift perspectives when viewed from different angles” – one of whom is Inés. Installed on the Aldrich Lawn, Ines is, according to Plensa, “all at once specific, anonymous, universal, and tranquil.”
(Photo by Susan Young)
Tony Tasset – Arrow Sculpture, 2015 (Car paint on aluminum) / Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery
Cincinnati-born conceptual artist Tony Tasset’s goal with his new mixed media series Me and My Arrow, was to “create a graphic emblem of trending; a universal logo that expressed the contemporary environment of chronic evaluation.” Arrow Sculpture, which was installed on the Spangler Lawn, makes reference to Harry Nilsson, as well as “the art market, changing tastes, and the sometimes arbitrary nature of assessment.”
(Photo by Susan Young)
Hank Willis Thomas – Ernest and Ruth, 2015 (Various steel plate and pipe)
Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Garden State “photo-conceptual” artist Hank Willis Thomas contributes Ernest and Ruth, based on the “iconic shape of a cartoon speech bubble.” Thomas’ work “investigates themes of identity, history, and popular culture,” often within interactive environments. According to Thomas, the Spangler Lawn-installed Ernest and Ruth encourages viewers “to contemplate what it means to inhabit their own speech and beliefs.”
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
