WELCOME CENTER SCULPTURE HIGHLIGHTS, PART 2 In addition to horticultural displays and architectural details throughout, the new Welcome Center features prominent works of sculpture by major international artists Jaume Plensa, George Segal, Yinka Shonibare CBE, El Anatsui, Alexander Calder and the artist who sparked Fred Meijer's passion for collecting sculpture, Marshall Fredericks. Part of the permanent sculpture collection, the placement of these works alongside horticultural vistas reflects our mission as evidenced throughout the Gardens & Sculpture Park. Read on to learn more about a few of the newly placed sculptures and the artists who created them.
YINKA SHONIBARE CBE. APHRODITE DE FRÉJUS, 2018 AND FARNESE HERCULES, 2017. Born in London and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare is one of the most recognized and distinguished British-Nigerian artists working today. Shonibare has exhibited around the world, including participation in important contemporary art exhibitions such as Documenta and Venice Biennale. Among his many public art projects is the prestigious public commission for Trafalgar Square in London. He was a nominee for the distinguished Turner Prize in 2004; in 2013, he was elected as Royal Academician; and in 2019, he was honored with the title of CBE or Commander of the Office of the British Empire which he has adopted as part of his name. Referring to his dual identity as Nigerian and British, Shonibare is a self-described “post-colonial hybrid.” His art finds inspiration in art historical sources from Greco-Roman antiquity to African design. Welcoming guests as they approach the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Ticketing Center, Shonibare’s Aphrodite de Fréjus and Farnese Hercules are in conversation with classical statues, challenging Western ideals: Aphrodite or Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and Hercules or Herakles, the hero of the Twelve Labors. Both antique sculptures are on display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Shonibare reimagines them with his signature Dutch wax batik patterns painted on the surface. He gives each sculpture a new postcolonial interpretation by playfully turning their heads into globes and showing the African continent where the face would be, adding contemporary meaning and a context to explore race and power. 6
SCULPTURE HIGHLIGHTS
KIRSTIN VOLKENING
