After many years of planning and hard work the artwork on the columns has finally been installed. A huge thanks to all those who helped make this happen!!!
There will be an official opening. Date TBA.
This is Lambeth's briefing note:
Art comes back to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
Lambeth Council commissioned artist Paola Piglia to produced two sculptures to go on top of the 18m cement columns at the entrance to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The new artwork depicts the figures of a lady in 18th century garb being offered a flower from a young man from the present-day. The sculptures show a representation of a silent conversation between the past and present in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.
The fabricator, Mike Smith Studios, have laser cut and welded the steel outlines to create the two finished sculptures. The graphic style allows the openness of the figures to contrast with their backdrop, suggestive of drawings in the sky.
The underlying message of a dialogue between the past and present is what makes the Pleasure Gardens so unique. In the 18th century the Pleasure Gardens had been a main London attraction; the new artwork reprises this tradition for celebrating the arts while raising awareness for the garden’s glorious past for local residents, Londoners and beyond.
Installation
The installation will take place over the week commencing 13th July, with an opening event pencilled in towards the end of the summer to celebrate the events and capital works that have taken place in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Consideration has been made for the cycle superhighway 5 construction works and planned events in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to avoid clashes.
The Artist
Born in Turin, Italy, Paola Piglia graduated from UC Berkeley and later obtained a PhD in Philosophy of Communication from EGS.
Piglia worked for many years in New York before moving to Vauxhall, London. Her editorial work has regularly appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, LIFE, Time, The Atlantic Monthly and Berlin Verlag.She has won several awards including the Gold and Silver Medal from The Art Directors Club NY, The Society of Illustrators, The Society of Newspaper Design and The Society of Publication Designers. She has lectured at the Royal College of Art, London, Virginia Commonwealth University and Stuttgart Art School.
Piglia’s work has also focused on culture and social lift in Vauxhall leading to the development of a logo for Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. This formed the starting point for the design of the proposed artworks for the columns at the entrance to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.