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

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.

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.

Broadgate Art Trail

The Broadgate Art Trail are a collection of artworks from the vaults of Broadgate that form a route in and around the Broadgate area. The artworks are all available for view with some “hidden gems” (the ones indoors) require authorisation from the Broadgate team for photographic purposes or through the Broadgate Art Trail tour which is done during the Open House weekend.

1. Rush Hour - George Segal

2. Finsbury Avenue Lit Floor - SOM and Maurice Brill Lighting Design
It is seen in the dark so best to venture to it in the dark night to see the full effects of the 100,000 energy efficient LED lights as they strike up 10 different displays. Each display lasts as long as it takes for someone to cross the square. The installation won the International Association of Lighting Designers’ Award of Excellence in 2004.

3. Bellerophon Taming Pegasus - Jacques Lipchitz

4. Fulcrum - Richard Serra
Like Marmite, the Fulcrum is an installation that people will either love or either hate. There are 5 sheets of Cor-Ten steel used to provide an illusion that they support and slightly overlap each other. There are three entrances which encourages passerby to enter and look up through the 55 feet high structure as they see the opening giving a view of the sky.

5. Leaping Hare on Crescent and Bell (1988) - Barry Flanagan
The hare is a recurring theme in Flanagan’s works and often take on different human forms such as dancing or juggling. This artwork shows the Hare as it leaps high above the air rising above a crescent moon and a huge bell underneath. This is part of a series of talking statues.

6. Alchemy - Lincoln Seligman

7.  Venus - Jim Dine

8. Mechanics Institute - William Tillyer
This abstract painting of landscape brings out the different colours of architecture, coloud, sky and foliage. Tillyer was inspired by artists coming forward to Broadgate to create this piece to compare the solidarity of architecture to the fluidity of nature.

9. Eye-I - Bruce McLean
This steel sculpture paints a abstract face as she gives a wink and blows a kiss with her blond hair to the side. She performs against a backdrop the hustle and bustle of City workers, architectural buildings and the sky. 

10. Colour Eclipse - Danny Lane

11. Ceramic Sculpture - Joan Grady Artigas
The artwork reflects the scenic beauty of the water-like features of the sky as it surrounds the red, black and white base represented as rocks reflecting the buildings of Broadgate. Reminiscent of Catalan, the ceramics were painted by hand and placed together making a structure several stories high collectively.

12. Broadgate Venus - Fernando Botero
The Broadgate Venus is the much loved sculpture of Exchange Square with a lot of passer-by taking snaps with the large and curvaceous nude sculpture. She provides romance in the air as she reclines and gazes across the square and Liverpool Street Station.

13. Water Feature - SOM and Stephen Cox
This Japanese inspired water feature can be found in the piazza of Exchange Square where anyone can enjoy a sit down next to and admire the visual beauty and the trickles of running water as it cascades down wondrously. 

15. For George’s Sake - Marta Rogoyska
Striking, bold and colourful, this piece adds a pop burst against the grey-stoned walls. Originally, the 8-metre artwork was created for a nursery of a country house, which the artwork plays on the fun and playfulness to release the child in all of us.

16. The Broad Family - Xavier Coberó
Corberó’s installation The Broad Family sparks off different forms of human emotion in juxtapositions such as togetherness and separation to innocence and experience. From afar, it may appear that they are huge lug of rocks put together but on closer inspection they can form individual figures and an object. In the installation, you can make out the father, mother, child (with shoes poking out), a dog and a ball. There is space between each figure showing that giving space to each other is at times very welcoming.

 

17. Ganapathi & Devin - Stephen Cox
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. 

 

#BroadgateArtTrail

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.

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