The Lovers
Tate Modern. 2022
Exhibition
· 16th March – 23rd March 2022 ·
Tate Modern. London.
Description of Work & Relation to the theme of ‘Love and Loss’
This is the miniature of The Lovers. I exhibited the genuine sculpture in 2014, opposite Tate Britain, on the Chelsea Parade Ground. I made it in steel, measuring 8 x 4 x 3 metres. I also exhibited The Lovers at Bishop Square, near Liverpool Street tube station, in 2015 and 2016. At that time, the disposition of the sculpture occupied 4 x 4 x 4 metres with the same material.
It was a common and gratifying sight to find couples kissing underneath The Lovers. Those kisses are now lost in the pandemic.
It consists of two modules, each made with two and a half cubes. The figure represents the abstraction of one person. It doesn’t distinguish gender or colour, reflecting the universality of love.
The prototype could be on display in an enormous variety of positions. They work as complemented parts, different positions representing the ideas of kisses, a house or lovers frolicking.
It also develops the idea of People as Places. It was frequent to find couples kissing underneath the sculpture, or families with children playing around the vertical bars.
Furthermore, it allowed us to explore different possibilities in the exhibition.
