Plaster Pyramids and Market Places

Driven by and named after Article 25 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 is a humanitarian architectural charity which helps vulnerable communities around the world through design to improve health, livelihoods and resilience to disasters.

Over the previous 9 years, their annual flagship fundraising event ’10×10 London’ has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to help them carry out their incredible work on over 90 projects in 34 countries.

’10×10′ casts a grid of squares over parts of London with prominent artists, architects and designers invited to produce artwork inspired by their piece of the urban landscape. These artworks are then sold at auction.

Bar and Circle, 2016

Worlds End Estate, 2015

I have contributed to 8 of the previous 9 ’10×10′ events, creating a number of my artworks using handmade and painted plaster pyramids, each measuring 8x8x8mm. These are arranged to create a pixelated-like image inspired by a particular theme such as the Underground Roundel, the River Thames or the Olympic Rings. The artworks are designed so they change colour and clarity when viewed from different distances and angles. One side of the pyramids are all painted blue while a range of bold colours adorn the other, creating a dynamic, sculptural quality.

Stratford Rings, 2017

Previous years have covered the Isle of Dogs, the West End, London Bridge and the River Thames. However, in light of social distancing measures, ’10×10′ 2020 has departed from the grid and instead adopted the theme of London Markets.

Markets have been a major influence on the patterns of urban growth in settlements big and small around the world. Whether this be the arrangement of buildings and land uses or the impact on land values around a market hall or square or the pattern of streets leading to and from them. Their impact is testament to the value and significance they had and continue to have on our daily lives, something DLA are very familiar with through our town centre urban design and masterplanning work.

I am really interested in the movements associated with markets, whether this is the flow of people – sellers, buyers and suppliers – or the flow of the goods. It’s fascinating to think about how far the impact of a single market can spread locally, nationally and internationally.

My artwork is inspired by this and the idea of the marketplace as an intense nucleus of activity, with pulsating arteries radiating out along a hierarchical network of streets. This years’ artwork is in progress and due for delivery to Article 25 in September ready for the auction in November. More information about Article 25 and the ’10×10′ auction can be found here: https://www.article-25.org/

Pyramids in progress, 2020