Wembley Park has announced a series of newly commissioned artworks by multidisciplinary artists including Paul J Marks, Douglas Green, Louisa Smurthwaite and Jenny Cox.
The new artworks form part of the Wembley Park Art Trail, a growing collection of over 20 pieces of outdoor public art developed with local, national, and international artists including Mr. Doodle, Lois O’Hara and Jason Bruges Studio.
Seven new installations are included in a new exhibition titled ‘Winter’s Wander’ which will be on display until 28th February 2023. The exhibition centres around the theme of ‘joy, togetherness, and sense of adventure’, while also incorporating exciting new astronomical art pieces.
Josh McNorton, Cultural Director at Wembley Park said: “We are delighted to be celebrating creativity across the neighbourhood this winter through such a diverse range of artworks. It’s also exciting to be presenting astronomical art for the first time – a modern genre of artistic expression that spans realism, impressionism, hardware, sculpture, abstract imagery and more. Both A Guiding Light and the Sound Shell in Samovar Space with its futuristic design celebrate space art in Wembley Park this winter, with incredible effect.”
As visitors arrive on iconic Olympic Way, they are welcomed by the majestic figure of A Guiding Light, a sequential artwork spread across 34, 7-metre-tall banners, against the backdrop of the Wembley Stadium arch. Created by light artists Douglas Green and Louisa Smurthwaite – who previously collaborated with musicians including Kylie Minogue, Lorde, Florence and the Machine and Jarvis Cocker, – A Guiding Light depicts the 12 hours of the moon rising and 12 hours of the sun setting, taking visitors on a walk through the wintertime phases of the sun and moon.
The artwork across the banners is supported by projections of a star field on the ground below. All the images were hand drawn by Douglas, who started with photographs of the sun and moon before bringing in influences from the Northern Lights and the constellations. At the heart of the A Guiding Light experience is mankind’s obsession with the night sky.
“We look to the night sky for inspiration, for guidance and for navigation, while the constellations and the zodiac are important to many diverse individuals around the world. Some see their ancestors as stars. It was an incredible opportunity to have such a large canvas to work with.” – Douglas Green, Artist.
A Guiding Light is complemented by the Guiding Lights Bridge, an immersive light installation by multimedia artist Sian Bliss. Displayed across two 15-metre-wide digital screens, soffit, and illuminated side walls of the Bobby Moore Bridge, as well as six giant digital totems across the neighbourhood, the artwork takes inspiration from the images produced by the most powerful space telescope ever built, NASA’s James Webb Telescope, showing some of the universe’s first galaxies, and reminding us of the most fundamental questions that remain unanswered.
Other artworks on display include Impossible Greenhouse, a site-specific, multi-site installation by artist Jenny Cox, which transforms six electrical cabinets across Wembley Park into imagined greenhouses. Inspired by community-led gardening projects, which turn something unloved into a thing of beauty that benefits the local community, the painted cabinets contain impossible combinations of vegetation and flora, submitted by local residents through a participation workshop. Like the Wardian Boxes of early 19th Century plant collectors, the greenhouses create a stage in which the plant forms – and their associated stories – can be celebrated and admired.
Over on Olympic Way, a new, music-themed tile mural, Reverb, by artist Paul J Marks, has been unveiled outside Bobby Moore Bridge. As a music term, “reverb” references an echo effect or continuation of a sound source which has stopped. Paul J Mark’s design process for this new tile artwork was focused on recognising and responding to the heritage of the remaining section of the ‘Live Aid’ mural panel which sits adjacent to the new artwork. The ‘Live Aid’ concert, held at Wembley Stadium in 1985, still resonates as a significant cultural event for Wembley Park and the local community. This new tile artwork is influenced by images of light displays from graphic equalisers and sound waves from the 1980’s. By referencing images from this period, it visually represents the idea of the continuation of sound, like an echo from ‘Live Aid’ to the present day.
The collection’s namesake, Winter’s Wander, by Tilly AKA Running for Crayons, is located on the Spanish Steps, connecting the National Stadium with the OVO Arena Wembley. Using hand-drawn illustrations on vinyl print, the artwork is formed of 12 individual scenes that, when connected and admired as a whole, tell a story of togetherness. Choosing elements of the season depicted on a palette of warm and cheerful tones, the artist wanted to create a sense of fun and excitement with families and friends – all celebrating the season but most importantly being together. Using imagery such as a hog hurtling down the ski slopes, a tiger making friends with a snowman, and a pair of cats finding comfort snoozing on a hibernating bear, Winter’s Wander shows have connections really can be formed between the most unlikely of friends.
In Arena Square, illustrator Molly McGrath has delivered Winter is Here. Set within three original 4K red telephone boxes, the artwork is inspired by memories of childhood, using layers of mixed media, including water, oil to make rain drops, food colour for depth and chili flakes to create snowflakes. The result is a digital illustration that evokes the child-like excitement that precedes festive celebrations, along with the joy and reconnection that so many families experience over the Christmas period. Molly has also included two original winter-inspired poems on the phone boxes, ready for those exploring the Art Trail to discover.
Taking over Wembley Park’s new outdoor bandstand on Olympic Way, the Sound Shell, Brent-based light artist Yoni Alter has taken the Flanagan Lawrence-designed acoustic shell and created an immersive walk-through experience, adding thousands of LEDs lights to form a beautiful, ever-changing light installation, with the feel of a spaceship yearning to connect with the stars above. These immersive illuminations will be brought to life by a complementary programme of free live performances throughout December, from solo artists to barbershop quartets and professional choirs.
Visitors can learn more about each piece and follow the interactive map on www.wembleypark.com/art
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