Busted
The High Line | New York
April 2013 – April 2014
Curated by Cecilia Alemani
Installation photos by Timothy Schenck
Featuring works by John Ahearn, Frank Benson, Steven Claydon, George Condo, Mark Grotjahn, Sean Landers, Goshka Macuga, Ruby Neri, Amalia Pica, and Andra Ursuta.
Drawing its inspiration from the dedicatory sculptures that punctuated the streets of ancient Rome, Busted plays with the popular tradition of urban monuments and civic landmarks that have defined public spaces for centuries. Who are today’s heroes and who does the public expect to see memorialized in monuments? Busted raises some of these questions by bringing together a group of artists who are questioning the tradition of commemorative sculpture and the format of the celebratory monuments. The invited artists touch upon — at times with levity and sense of humor — issues of democracy, taste, and representation of the self in the public space.
Busted features ten international artists including:
New York-based artist Frank Benson (b. 1976, United States) presents Human Statue (Jessie), 2011, a life-size sculpture of a standing woman; arms gently open as if holding an invisible object, with a shield-like disk resting at her feet. The sculpture is a mix of the old and new. References to classic Greek statuaries are evident, but the figure is dressed in modern clothes. The manufacturing process reflects a similar complexity as the sculpture combines traditional materials like bronze with digital 3D scanning.