THOMAS J PRICE - RESILIENCE OF SCALE
- Vivian Phillips
- May 21
- 3 min read
Updated: May 23
The work of British sculptor Thomas J Price has been popping up a lot lately, and not everyone is pleased. Some are seeing red at the thought of a massive (Black female) bronze figure, Grounded in the Stars, being placed in Times Square, at Broadway and 46th Street. This is a temporary installation that will remain in place until June 17th. If you catch Khalil Joseph’s film, BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions, currently on the film festival circuit, you can also catch a glimpse of another Price work, The Distance Within, that was installed in Marcus Garvey Park for a year between 2021 and 2022.
New York’s prominent art gallery, Hauser and Wirth Soho, is hosting Thomas’s first major solo exhibition, Resilience of Scale, through June 14th, and the Times Square installation is an accompaniment to the exhibition. The work of Thomas Price is compelling. According to the Hauser and Wirth exhibit press release, Price’s sculptures are created as an “homage to everyday people and amplify traditionally marginalized bodies and redress structures of hierarchy, inviting questions about who we choose to celebrate in art.
ARTE NOIR East Coast contributors Marjorie Clarke and Brenda Daniels attended the exhibit's press opening on April 24th and had the opportunity to experience Price’s work and hear from him directly. Here’s what they had to say:
At the end of April, we were invited to an opening reception and artist talk with the sculptor, Thomas J Price. It’s New York, so you expect a gallery opening pretty much a few times a week. Sometimes you remember to read the press release, sometimes you just wing it. But you go, listen a little; eat the snacks, admire the art, make art-opening small talk, and then go on with one's New York day. Except this day.
Walking down Wooster Street hustling to get there in time for the artist talk and checking the address so as not to be too New York late, and then getting to the window, all you can see is people looking up and realizing that they are coming up to what looks like the bottom half of probably the largest BRONZE statue of a Black woman we’ve ever seen. We heard Price, a Black Brit of West Indian heritage, in conversation with Studio Museum curator Connie Choi about his works and this current installation. Price’s work had previously been the subject of a co-presentation between the Studio Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. That program, Witness, is the source of the Marcus Garvey Park installation featuring The Distance Within, so it was fitting that Choi led this day’s conversation with Price.
Listening to the conversation, we learned a lot about Price’s inspiration, which is something we hear all too often – his work is a reflection of the absence of seeing himself or any of the regular people he knows, reflected in sculptural art. His response to this absence is very evident in the exhibition, which features marble and bronze statues, already majestic, but made even more so by the pedestal elevations. It felt as though one was in the presence of gods, goddesses, and some historical figures.
Price’s artistic mission is to change the narrative about who and what is worthy of artistic representation on a grand scale. These sculptures are not based on any one person but are an amalgamation of those that society marginalizes or misrepresents, especially young Black men and Black women.
Each of his twelve-foot bronze sculptures is standing flatfooted, 10 toes down (as the kids say) on the ground, and cannot be bothered to meet your gaze. They do not need your validation to exist. At 12 feet, they silently scream - You Will See Me.
Of course, after attending the gallery opening, I had to make my way to Times Square to experience Grounded in the Stars at the "Crossroads of the World” - Times Square. If you stand near her and just observe the women around you, you will see some part of her (I named her ‘Sheila’) walk right by you. You’ve probably walked past women like her every day, but most likely never noticed her. Well, not this time. You will see ‘Sheila.’ At least until June 17th!
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