He works on a fine line between conceptual sculpture and digital technologies
Thomas J. Price (London, 1981) is emerging as one of the most prominent and celebrated voices in contemporary public sculpture. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art and has exhibited in museums around the world. He operates on a subtle threshold, between traditional sculpture, conceptual art, and digital technological innovation, merging noble and industrial materials to redraw the identity of those who have yet to find a place in history. He is anti-classical through classical references - looking directly to the history of ancient art - and “revolutionary” with the backing of institutions. Even without a pedestal, Time Unfolding, the sculpture now in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, stands at a height that rivals Michelangelo’s David. The comparison with such beauty and mastery is inevitable, as is the dialogue with the other sculptures that grace the square in front of Palazzo Vecchio. Cast in gilded bronze, it depicts a young black woman looking at her smartphone. She could be anyone passing through the square, were it not for her nearly 4 meter height and striking shine.
Time Unfolding in Piazza della Signoria is a bronze sculpture of a young black woman looking at her phone
An anonymous figure, but far from inconspicuous, it has sparked political controversy and even a racially motivated act of vandalism. Is this cancel culture, or a brilliant opening toward new narratives? According to the artist, the aim is to dismantle old idols in favor of a renewed sense of monumentality rooted in inclusivity: “The very idea of who deserves a statue needs to be completely rewritten”. Price proposes a kind of post-colonial rewriting of the monument, specifically highlighting the absence, until now, of black bodies. His work challenges collective memory and poses the critical question: who has the right to be represented?
He challenges collective memory and poses the question: who has the right to be represented?
His figures, placed in the heart of a city like Florence, an emblem of classical beauty, Medici power, and Renaissance sculpture, establish a powerful dialogue between past and present. They invite necessary reflection on identity, memory, and the omissions of Western art today. This important conversation with antiquity continues, in different formal variations, in the halls of Palazzo Vecchio and the cloister of the Museo Novecento (on view until September 14, curated by Sergio Risaliti).“The body is an architecture that houses the soul,” said Auguste Rodin, the great innovator of modern sculpture. One wonders what he would think today of these “everyday heroes” who now claim visibility—his famous The Thinker, originally intended for the Gates of Hell, has become a symbol of the tragic universality of the modern human condition.
He is anti-classical through classicism, revolutionary with institutional support
Thomas J. Price in Florence
Palazzo Vecchio
Museo Novecento
Until 11/06
Piazza della Signoria
Until 14/09
Curated by
Sergio Risaliti
