YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK PARTNERSHIP WITH SELFRIDGES CONTINUES

WITH NEW ART BLOCK COMMISSION BY MATTHEW DARBYSHIRE

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) and Selfridges present a new commission by British

artist Matthew Darbyshire for the London store’s Art Block, from 2 October 2018

until April 2019.

Darbyshire, the Art Block’s second resident artist, has created three figurative works that

play with, subvert and interrogate familiar classical symbols. Observing that many world-

wide brands derive from classical deities, Darbyshire has reinterpreted the traditional

statuary of Nike, Hermes and Mars using the layering method typically seen in digital

printing.

Darbyshire said: “I had a bit of a breakthrough whilst walking around the Selfridges store

and suddenly realising the similarity between shopping emporium and museum layouts.

Then I thought back further and realised that Roman and Greek temples informed the

cathedral which informed the museum and the museum informed the mall – so, if

Selfridges Art Block: Matthew Derbyshire Media Release

Renaissance City. Installation view. Stanny House, Suffolk, UK (2014). Photo © Edward Morgan. Courtesy Herald St, London.

shopping is the new religion, the brands are the new icons that, regardless of faith, race or

creed, unify us all. I then realised we’d come full circle and that the main brands today in

fact derive from the classical deities first shown in ancient temples, then in cathedrals,

museums, and now in the ultimate secular temple – the store!”

The works deliberately resemble the output of 3D printing, however, they have been

traditionally crafted using scales and materials not yet possible in 3D printing technology.

Retaining all the tell-tale layering and plasticity of a 3D print, the three-metre-tall

sculptures adopt classical, monumental scale. Through his own synthetic stone finishes,

Darbyshire alludes to the traditional use of marble, and its contemporary equivalent of

marble-effect filaments used in 3D printing, whilst also subtly referencing the brands

that inform his deities by adopting their various associated colour schemes.

Darbyshire’s installation extends his research into the impact of digital processes upon

sculpture, the potency of the mediated form and the lingering cultural importance of

the classical.

The Art Block is Selfridges’ permanent destination for contemporary sculpture, presenting

a series of six-month long residencies, showing newly commissioned artworks in

captivating and unexpected ways. It is curated in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture

Park’s Head of Curatorial Programme, Helen Pheby.

Darbyshire’s installation follows London-based British artist Holly Hendry’s inaugural

site-specific sculpture Phyllis. At nearly 4-metres tall, Phyllis was named after one of the

Cross Rail digging machines which embedded itself so far under London that it could not

be retrieved. Using spoil from the rebuilding of Selfridges’ Duke Street entrance it

referenced humanity’s impact on the materials and resources of the world.

Left to right: Hercules (2014). Polystyrene. Photo © Andy Keate. Courtesy Herald St, London. CAPTCHA No. 15 - Doryphoros (2014). Multiwall polycarbonate, silicone and steel armature. Photo © Andy Keate. Courtesy Herald St, London.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Selfridges, the arts and the Art Block – Selfridges has long been a supporter of the arts, with a particular interest in

British-based emerging talents across all arts genres – from music to sculpture. The artists who have contributed art to

Selfridges or have been commissioned to create new art for the store include: Polly Morgan, Conrad Shawcross, Nick

Hornby, Jodie Carey, Banksy, Sam Taylor Wood, Brian Eno, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Antony Gormley, Grayson Perry, Ben

Eine, and David Lachappelle, among many others.

The Art Block is a marble and steel monolith designed by David Chipperfield as part of his commission to create Selfridges’

new Accessories Hall, the world’s largest destination for luxury handbags and accessories. The Art Block – situated right in

the middle of the newly refurbished and extended Accessories Hall, has been designed to showcase large pieces of

contemporary art that can weigh up to 3.5 tonnes and measure well over 4 metres in height, thanks to the very high ceilings

within the space. The Art Block will present two new residencies every year (of six months each), curated by Helen Pheby.

Matthew Darbyshire – Matthew Darbyshire was born in Cambridge in 1977 and now lives and works in London. He

graduated from the Slade School of Art in 2000 and the Royal Academy Schools in 2005. He has had solo public exhibitions

at Gasworks, London; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Outpost, Norwich; Taro Nasu, Tokyo; Tramway, Glasgow;

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield; Lisa Cooley, New York; Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester;

Herald St, London; Nottingham Castle, Nottingham; and Jousse Entreprise, Paris.

Helen Pheby – Helen Pheby PhD is an international curator and Head of Curatorial Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

She is a recognised specialist in cultural inclusion and impact, and an authority on art beyond the institution. Her PhD thesis

considered controversial public art as a means to better understand the place of art in life and she has worked with

international partners to co-curate off-site projects including the Kyiv Sculpture Project (2012) and A Place in Time (2016)

at NIROX Sculpture Foundation in the UNESCO Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, pioneering an appreciation of

contemporary practices alongside artefacts. Dr Pheby’s YSP projects include Katrina Palmer: The Coffin Jump (2018) a

co-commission with 14-18 NOW; Occasional Geometries: Rana Begum Curates the Arts Council Collection (2017); and Fiona

Banner: Wp Wp Wp (2014). She initiated YSP’s programme of process-led and open-ended practice including Graduate

Awards with Ayesha Tan Jones and Marco Miehling. She has extended the organisation’s platform for artists to new

territories and areas of conflict, such as Art by Email (2016) for practitioners with very limited travel opportunities.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park – Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary

sculpture which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017. Founded in 1977 by Executive Director Peter Murray, YSP was the

first sculpture park in the UK, and is the largest of its kind in Europe, providing the only place in Europe to see Barbara

Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety alongside a significant collection of sculpture, including bronzes by Henry

Moore, and site-specific works by Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and James Turrell. YSP mounts a world-class, year-round

temporary exhibitions programme including some of the world’s leading artists across five indoor galleries and the open air.

Recent highlights include exhibitions by Alfredo Jaar, Tony Cragg, Not Vital, KAWS, Bill Viola, Anthony Caro, Fiona Banner, Ai

Weiwei, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Amar Kanwar, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Joan Miró and Jaume Plensa. More than 80 works on

display across the estate include major sculptures by Phyllida Barlow, Ai Weiwei, Roger Hiorns, Sol LeWitt, Joan Miró and

Dennis Oppenheim. YSP’s core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, Liz and

Terry Bramall Foundation and Sakurako and William Fisher through the Sakana Foundation. YSP was named Art Fund

Museum of the Year in 2014.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Sophie Steel, Sutton on behalf of Yorkshire Sculpture Park: +44 (0)20 7183 3577 / sophie@suttonpr.com

Bruno Barba, Selfridges: +44 (0)20 7318 3204 / bruno.barba@selfridges.co.uk