(New York, NY) – Art Production Fund (APF), White Cube and Lehmann Maupin, in cooperation with NYC Parks & Recreation, are pleased to present Roman Standard (2013), by Tracey Emin on view from May 10 to September 8 at Petrosino Square at Spring and Lafayette Streets in New York. Roman Standard features a single bronze bird perched on top of a thirteen-foot pole that rises over the park.
Emin describes the sculpture, often mistaken as a real bird, as a symbol of “hope, faith and spirituality” that acts as a point of contemplation. It serves as a reinterpretation of the militaristic symbols of traditional Roman Standards by demonstrating a seemingly insignificant creature’s strengths in its embodiment of height, air and light. “Most public sculptures are a symbol of power which I find oppressive and dark,” said Emin. “I wanted something that had a magic and an alchemy, something which would appear and disappear and not dominate.”
“We are thrilled to showcase Tracey Emin’s work in New York,” said Art Production Fund Cofounders Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. “In Roman Standard Emin poignantly conveys that successful works of public art do not need to be monumental in order to inspire their surroundings.”
Roman Standard was Emin’s first public art project, commissioned in 2005 by the BBC as part of its contribution to the art05 festival and Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture in 2008, and serves as a tribute to the city's famous symbol, the Liver Bird. The installation in Petrosino Square marks the artist’s second public project in New York following her hugely successful debut in Times Square this past February, as part of Midnight Moment organized by s[edition], the Times Square Advertising Coalition, and Times Square Art.
Concurrently, Lehmann Maupin will present Tracey Emin: I Followed You To The Sun, a two-part exhibition featuring over 100 new works, including a series of new bronze sculptures, paintings and drawings, embroideries and a short film, on view from May 2 to June 22, 2013 at both of its New York galleries. The sprawling show covers all aspects of Emin’s creative output and continues to reveal her most intimate internal narratives. In December 2013, the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami will host Emin’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States.
Regarded as one of the world’s most significant contemporary artists, Tracey Emin is internationally recognized for her blunt and revealing style, which elicits a broad range of emotions from shock to empathy to self-reflection. Drawing on personal experiences, Emin often reveals emotional situations with brutal honesty and poetic humor in a wide variety of media including painting, drawing, embroidery, neon, installation, sculpture, and film.