Edward Onslow Ford - Rowland Hill

Rowland Hill is well known for his work in campaigning for a proposed system of a postal rates that were low and fair as well as prepaid postage stamps with the latter being shunned by the Parliament. His work is well recognised that one of his statue stands at King Edward Street.

The statue created by Edward Onslow Ford was made in 1884 (and 1881). The statue itself is made of bronze and the base of Peterhead granite. It features Hill facing the East dressed in contemporary garments as he holds a pen and pocketbook. On the side of the step that Hill stands on, it features the founders H Young & Co as well as on the other side, Ford’s signature.

It is also one of the “Talking Statues”, a series of statues that speak once tapped with compatible technology. The spoken words were written by Colette Hiller and the words animated by Alan Johnson. You can head down and tap using NFC technology, scan the QR code or type the URL into the phone web browser. You can receive your call from Rowland Hill by typing speak2.co/hill in the web browser of your phone.

"I think it’s a tremendous idea for these august people, whose statues are placed all around London, to suddenly come to life, to actually hear their story and I’m so pleased to do it with Rowland Hill, one of my heroes as a former postman.” - Alan Johnson

 

Enzo Plazzotta - Young Dancer

Plazzotta's Young Dancer can be found on Bow Street, opposite the Royal Opera House and around the corner from Royal Ballet School on Floral Street. The bronze cast depicts a girl tying the lace on her ballet shoes. The sculpture was erected by the Westminster City Council in association with the Plazzota Estate and unveiled on 16th May 1988.

Stephen Cox - Ganapathi & Devin

Standing in their own distinct space, yet linked together, are two pieces Ganapathi and Devi. They were named after Hindi elephant god Ganesha and Hindu Goddess Devi. The pieces hark back to periods of history and ancient civilisation. The sculptures is part of the Broadgate Art Trail.

#BroadgateArtTrail

Danny Lane - Colour Eclipse

Each laminated coloured disk weighs a whopping 180kg and are encased in clear architectural glass, giving it a weightless illusion as if floating despite its weight. The glass is compressed as Lane uses the eloquent yet strong form of glass to create this pair of artwork. The art pieces is part of Broadgate Art Trail.

 

Jim Dine - Venus

These bronze sculptures affixed to the walls of 155 Bishopsgate were inspired by Venus de Milo which is common in the works of Dine. They represent beauty and romance, but the works employ a rough edge reminiscent of archaeological artefacts in light of the handiwork showing the underlying emotion. The sculptures form as part of the Broadgate Art Trail.

Lincoln Seligman - Alchemy

Running along a passageway behind a building of Broadgate lies Seligman’s Alchemy which explores the motif of turning base metals into gold. The colours interchange slowly from metallic lead into golden yellow and back again. This is part of the Broadgate Art Trail.

Jacques Lipchitz - Bellerophon Taming Pegasus

The imagery shows Greek hero Bellerophon as he interweaves with winged horse Pegasus. Lipchitz wanted an imagery here to represent man dominating nature. It is said that Bellerophon tamed Pegasus so that they rode off to kill the Chimera as penance for Bellerophon’s rejection of Queen Argus’s advancement. The sculpture is part of the Broadgate Art Trail.

George Segal - Rush Hour

Rush Hour represents what some of us would feel like the end of the day as you make your way home. The sculpture shows 6 figures as wade through the British weather in damp-looking rain jackets. Segal used live models of family and friends moulding them in wire mesh and plaster bandages. They were then cut free, leaving an empty case, which were then wielded shut to form these bronze piece of a sculpture. The sculpture forms as part of the Broadgate Art Trail.

Somerset House - Venturing Beyond: Graffiti and the Everyday Utopias of the Street

The Venturing Beyond exhibition is produced and curated by A(by)P with Somerset House, and is part of the Utopia 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility. The exhibition provides a platform for the artists to explore in taking a "risk for something more". The artworks grow to address the visuals of going beyond the norm of what is depicted in society. The exhibition explores the experimentation of art in forcing down any barriers leading to different possibilities. 17 artists took part in this exhibition with some of them below:

Husmitnavn (L - R) Busy Doing Nothing, Watching Out. Roll Up

Husmitnavn (L - R) The Shadow, Escapism

Revok - _5.A_Magenta_

Lucas Dillon (L - R) The Blind Leading the Blinds, Expecting to Leave, Organic Shrapnel (I), The Sound of Confusion, The Eternal Drunk (Throwing Beans), The Baboonaries of Us

Antwan Horfée - Blur 1, 2 and 3

Mishap Hollenbeck (L - R) Uberraschunseffekte I, No News (1,2 and 3), Reformation I, II, III

Saeio (L - R) - Oil 1, 2 and 3

Saeio - Lacquer/Ink 1

 #VenturingBeyond #Utopia2016

Jacques Rival - IFO

The IFO, also known as the Identified Flying Object, is created by Jacques Rival and is situated at the Battle Bridge Place of King's Cross. It was installed in 2011 as part of RELAY, the first King's Cross art programme celebrating the area's heritage and future.

The sized-up "birdcage" is at 9m high and 6m wide with bars more than big enough for people to walk through and play with the swing at the centre. At night, the artwork becomes alight with neon rainbow colours lighting up against its backdrop using LED lights. The structure is made of steel.

On special occasions, the artwork is lifted into the air as it illuminates in the night sky.

David Batchelor - Chromorama

David Batchelor's sculpture is situated at Sun Street Square which features a totem of 35 light boxes that shines bright with a spectrum of colours. The colours are placed as a pattern as they rotate it's way to the top of the installation. It has to be viewed both in the day and the night to fully marvel at the textures that the environment feeds with the artwork.

The artwork employs recycled materials found in everyday objects and industrial materials, exploring the interaction we have with colours with the modern age of technology. This is placed by office buildings adding to that full feel to the artwork of industrial, working environment.

 

Another David Batchelor art installation can be viewed at More London with his Evergreen artwork reflected between nature and office buildings.

Lights of Soho - Feature Series (Spotlight)

Soho has been synonymous with neon lights by Chris Bracey with his pieces making it across the sex establishments in the area. It was only fitting that a gallery opened featuring works that moths will find appealing as well that is the Light of Soho! I popped down to see their Spotlight exhibition which ends on April 2016.

Heading down during the day will give access to the member's lounge and installation in the window display is just as impressive as it is during the night. It's not hard to miss when walking down Brewer Street as you are hit with the wondrous colours of Neon Dog by Deepa Man-Kler, which was also featured in Lumiere London 2016, and comes complete with neon bones and poo.

The exhibition also features the works of M3 (Matt Mackman) and Illuminati Neon, who bring their own unique styling to their neon pieces.

Neon Dog - Deepa Mann-Kler

England's Dreaming - Illuminati Neon

Holidays in the Sun -

Ever Fallen in Love - Illuminati Neon

Fiona Banner - Full Stop

Fiona Banner’s Full Stop are positioned at different points on the grounds of More London Estates providing different backdrops with many of an opportunity for a passerby to stop at gaze into it. It is a lens reflecting and warping the image it reflects on its solid yet fluid surface. 

The full stop placements were done with test installations with full scale polystyrene models to determine how the full stop plays on with its environment.

Each Full Stop is an enlarged 3D image of a full stop in different typefaces. The titles of the sculptures are Slipstream, Optical, Courier, Klang and Nuptail. They sculptures are cast in bronze and coated in a shiny black paint as the same used for London Taxis which gives it that reflective surface.Each were made with plaster to help shape the texture and movement of the shapes, which were then cast in bronze.

 

King's Cross Poetry Trail

The King’s Cross’ poetry trail features children’s poets that are derived and form a celebration of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education CLPE Poetry Award back in 2014. It is brought together with the King’s Cross Limited Partnership and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

"We don’t want children to be frightened of poetry, we want them to be given it as an everyday part of their lives and having the poetry trail in such a prominent place and the poems displayed so beautifully gives a high profile to this really important aspect of children’s literature. In Kings Cross we have been lucky enough to be able to display a real range of the best children’s poetry available in an accessible and exciting way, which is exactly the purpose of the CLPE Poetry Award." - Roger McGough, Chair of the judges for the Poetry Award 2014

In total there are 12 poems that form a treasure hunt around the King’s Cross area. Some of which have been moved about due to the development of the area. Originally, the trail had 11 clues which allow the children to decipher allowing them to navigate between each poem.

"King’s Cross is enjoyed by lots of children already, including the ones living in the new homes here; from September next year a new Academy will open, bringing primary school kids together with the relocated Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children. We hope they will enjoy the poetry trail as part of the gardens and public spaces here at King’s Cross." - Robert Evans, Argent

"The aim of the award is to make good children’s poetry books known to a wider audience and to make poetry central to literacy teaching. The Kings Cross Partnership have helped us to show the shortlisted poetry in an engaging, exciting and really high profile way. We are delighted with the experience the trail provides for children, parents and teachers. It makes poetry relevant and fun." - Louise Johns-Shepherd, CEO of CLPE

Trees Are Great - Roger McGough

 Sshhhhh! - Julia Donaldson

 The Teacher Tells us How to Play at Playtime - Joanne Limburg

 Steel birds - Kathy Henderson

 The Brill - Aidan Dun *

 The Day We Went to the Multi-Skills Festival - Joanne Limburg

 Wayland: The Tale of the Smith from the Far North - Tony Mitton

 The Dragon with a Big Nose - Kathy Henderson

 Miss Spring - Grace Nichols

 The Lake's Bottom - George Szirtes

 Voices of Water - Tony Mitton

 Sonnet to an Earthworm - Grace Nichols



Aidan Dun's poem The Brill reads:

Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories. There are cities beneath your pavements. Cities behind your skies. Let me see!

#foundit