Mark Wallinger (born 25 May 1959) is a British artist. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation ''State Britain''. His work ''Ecce Homo'' (1999–2000) was the first piece to occupy the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001. ''Labyrinth'' (2013), a permanent commission for Art on the Underground, was created to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground. In 2018, the permanent work ''Writ in Water'' was realized for the National Trust to celebrate Magna Carta at Runnymede.
Life and career
Education and artistic career
Wallinger was born in Chigwell, UK, in 1959. He trained at
Chelsea School of Art in London, from 1978 to 1981, before studying for an MA from
Goldsmiths, University of London from 1983 to 1985. After graduating in 1985, most of his degree show was exhibited by the Anthony Reynolds Gallery, and he continued to teach part-time at Goldsmiths.
Awards
In 1998, Mark Wallinger won the Henry Moore Fellowship,
British School at Rome
The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture.
History
The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...
, an award offered to outstanding scholars and artists with the opportunity to work in Rome for 3 to 12 months. In 2001, Wallinger was honored with the
DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program
The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (German: Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD) is a residential program for artists of all countries and ages run by the German Academic Exchange Service (German: ‘Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst', DAAD ...
, one of the world's most respected artist-in-residence programmes for established artists working in the fine arts, film, literature and music. The following year he received an Honorary Fellowship from the London Institute.
In 2003, Wallinger was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Central England in Birmingham, UK. In 2007, he was awarded the Turner Prize.
In 2009, Goldsmith College honoured Wallinger for his achievements which reflect the values important to the Goldsmiths community. In the same year Wallinger’s design was selected from a three-strong shortlist for the
Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Commission. In 2010, he presented ''Sinema Amnesia'' in
Çanakkale as part of “My City”, a project which invited five artists from five European countries to produce installations in different Turkish cities.
As part of the
Transported by Design
Transported by Design was a programme of activities which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of both physical and service design in London's transport network. The 18-month long campaign showcased how design has helped shape London's trans ...
programme of activities, on 15 October 2015, after two months of public voting, Mark Wallinger's Labyrinth work was elected by Londoners as one of the 10 favourite transport design icons.
In 2019, ''Writ in Water'', a major architectural artwork by Mark Wallinger, in collaboration with Studio Octopi, for the National Trust at Runnymede, Surrey, was shortlisted for the
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The S ...
. In the same year, the project won the RIBA South East Award, the RIBA National Award, the
Civic Trust Awards
The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment.
As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...
Commendation, MacEwen Award Shortlisting an
EUMiesAward Nomination, and the Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Fountains or Water features by The Public Statues and Sculptures Association in 2021.
Turner Prize
Mark Wallinger was awarded The Turner Prize 2007 for ''
State Britain
State Britain is an installation artwork by Mark Wallinger displayed in Tate Britain in January 2007. It is a recreation from scratch of a protest display about the treatment of Iraq, set up by Brian Haw outside Parliament and eventually confisca ...
'', a direct meticulous replica and reconstruction of
Brian Haw’s protest peace camp outside the
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
against policies towards Iraq. The installation occupied the entire length of
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
’s Duveen Galleries, consisting of more than 600 banners, flags, teddy bears, peace signs, Haw’s tarpaulin shelter, and other materials amassed by Haw over his years of protest.
The original display consisted of donations from the public, including paintings, banners and toys. This had been confiscated by the police under the
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 (c.15) (often abbreviated to SOCPA or SOCAP) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also significantly extended and si ...
. He also put a black line on the floor of the Tate and through the middle of his exhibit to mark part of a 1 kilometre exclusion zone from Parliament Square. The jury applauded the work for its “immediacy, visceral intensity and historic importance” integrating “a bold political statement with art’s ability to articulate fundamental human truths”.
The art historian Yve-Alain Bois described ''State Britain'' as “one of the most remarkable political works of art ever”.
On speaking to the BBC about the award, Wallinger added, “I am indebted to all those people who contributed to the making of ''State Britain''. Brian Haw is a remarkable man who has waged a tireless campaign against the folly and hubris of our government’s foreign policy. For six-and-a-half years he has remained steadfast in Parliament Square, the last dissenting voice in Britain. Bring home the troops, give us back our rights, trust the people.”
In 2011 the artwork was exhibited for the first time in the Netherlands at the
De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art.
Venice Biennale
In 2001, the
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
revealed that they had selected Mark Wallinger to produce a solo show of new and past artworks for the British Pavilion at the
49th Venice Biennale
The 49th Venice Biennale, held in 2001, was an exhibition of international contemporary art, with 65 participating nations. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Prizewinners of the 49th Biennale included: Richard Serra a ...
. The show included sculpture, video, painting, and photography.
Wallinger presented the site-specific work, ''Facade'' (2001), which wrapped the front of the British Pavilion with an identical size replica colour photograph of the Pavilion itself printed on vinyl-coated material attached from scaffolding. In front of the pavilion ''Oxymoron'' (1996) was flying from a flagpole, a flag with the British
Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
replaced by green and orange of the Irish flag colours. In addition to ''Angel'' (1997), ''Threshold to the Kingdom'' (2000), ''Life Class'' (2001), ''Ghost'' (2001), and ''Time and Relative Dimensions in Space'' (2001), the sculpture ''Ecce Homo'' (1999-2000), first presented on the
Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, in 2000, welcomed visitors into the main gallery.
''Ghost'' (2001) continued with Wallinger’s fixation and exploration of British horse racing traditions. It consisted of a negative reproduction image in a
lightbox
A lightbox is a translucent surface illuminated from behind, used for situations where a shape laid upon the surface needs to be seen with high contrast.
Types
Several varieties exist, depending on their purpose:
* Various backlit viewing d ...
showing the famous 18th-century oil painting, ''
Whistlejacket'' (c.1762) by
George Stubbs
George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds, Reynold ...
, but altered by adding a horn on its head, thus turning it into a
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
. In contrast, ''Time and Relative Dimensions in Space'' (2001) referred to the space-traveling machine from the British show Doctor Who. Recreated especially for the biennale, Wallinger delivered a reflective mirrored replica of the famous police box.
Later work
Wallinger's later work appears to have largely turned away from his earlier preoccupations, instead apparently focusing on religion and death and the influence of
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...
. "Angel" is a video played in reverse showing the artist walking backwards at the bottom of the down escalator at Angel Underground Station while reciting the opening lines of the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
in the
King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
. At the conclusion of the video the music of ''
Zadok the Priest
''Zadok the Priest'' ( HWV 258) is a British anthem that was composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of King George II in 1727. Alongside '' The King Shall Rejoice'', '' My Heart is Inditing'' and '' Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened' ...
'' that forms part of the British
Coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...
ceremony can be heard as Wallinger 'ascends' up the stairs. ''No Man's Land'', a show at the
Whitechapel Gallery included several works on these subjects. ''Threshold to the Kingdom'' (2000), for example, is a slow motion video of people coming through automatic double doors at international arrivals at an airport. The video is accompanied by a recording of the famous ''Miserere'' by
Gregorio Allegri. Wallinger has said that the title might be taken as a double meaning: arrival at the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, but also at the kingdom of
heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
, with a security guard playing the part of
St. Peter
) (Simeon, Simon)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
, death_date = Between AD 64–68
, death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
, parents = John (or Jonah; Jona)
, occupation ...
.
The largest work in the ''No Man's Land'' show was ''Prometheus''. This piece is in two parts – on the outside, in a dark corridor, is a video of Wallinger (or rather his alter-ego, "Blind Faith") sitting in an
electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
and singing Ariel's song from
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
The Tempest''. From the corridor, automatic double doors give access to a brightly lit room which has an electric chair bolted to one of the walls, giving a top-down "God's-eye view" of it. On two facing walls are large photos of fists with the words "LOVE" and "HATE" written on them, a reference to the preacher played by
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
in the
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
, ''
The Night of the Hunter'', who had similar tattoos on his knuckles. A circular steel loop gives out a continuous buzzing sound.
''Ecce Homo'' was the first work to occupy the empty plinth in
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
. This work is a life-sized statue of a Christ figure, naked apart from a loin cloth, and with his hands bound behind his back. He wears a crown of
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is ...
. The sculpture was placed at the very front edge of the massive plinth, emphasising its vulnerability and relative smallness. It was quite popular with the public and was later shown at the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 2001, where Wallinger was Britain's representative.
He was one of the five artists shortlisted for the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project in January 2008, and in February 2009 it was announced that his design had won the competition. Wallinger's design is of
a giant white horse modelled on another of his own racehorses, 'Riviera Red', and has been described by his supporters as "an absolutely mesmerising conflation of old England and new, of the semi-mythical, Tolkienesque past and the six-lanes, all-crawling present".
He curated the exhibition "The Russian Linesman: Frontiers, Borders and Thresholds" at the Hayward Gallery in London, which lasted from February to May 2009.
![Mark Wallinger Labyrinth 218 - Cockfosters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Mark_Wallinger_Labyrinth_218_-_Cockfosters.jpg)
In April 2011, it was announced that Mark Wallinger would be one of three artists (along with Chris Ofili and Conrad Shawcross) to collaborate with the
Royal Ballet and the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
to create a piece based on works by the Renaissance painter Titian. ''Titian Metamorphosis'', which documented the entire project from conception to finished performances, was published by London-based publisher Art / Books in two editions in January 2013.
In February 2013, it was announced that Wallinger had created ''
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by ...
'' a set of 270
enamel plaques of unicursal
labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by ...
designs, one for every London tube station, to mark the 150th anniversary of the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
; each will be numbered according to its position in the route taken by the contestants in the 2009
Guinness World Record
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
Tube Challenge
The Tube Challenge is the competition for the fastest time to travel to all London Underground stations, tracked as a Guinness World Record since 1960. The goal is to visit all the stations on the system, not necessarily all the lines; particip ...
. In October 2014, Art / Books published ''Labyrinth: A Journey Through London's Underground by Mark Wallinger'', a comprehensive photographic book of all 270 labyrinth designs in situ in the Underground stations.
In 2019 Wallinger displayed his sculpture entitled
The World Turned Upside Down
"The World Turned Upside Down" is an English ballad. It was first published on a broadside in the middle of the 1640s as a protest against the policies of Parliament relating to the celebration of Christmas.
Parliament believed the holiday ...
at the London School of Economics. The artwork attracted controversy for showing the island of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
as a sovereign entity, rather than as part of the
People’s Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. After dueling protests by students from both the PRC and ROC and reactions by third party observers (which included the President of Taiwan, Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the co-chairs of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons
) the university decided later that year that it would retain the original design which chromatically displayed the PRC and ROC as different entities but with the addition of an asterisk beside the name of Taiwan and a corresponding placard that clarified the institution's position regarding the controversy.
In October 2019, Wallinger featured in a group show at Tension Fine Art alongside artists Julian Lowe and Stuart Elliot. The show "You Can't Tell By Looking" was curated by Kate Love.
Notes and references
External links
Mark Wallinger at Hauser & WirthMark Wallinger at carlier , gebauerMark Wallinger's work in the Tate Mark Wallinger in the 1995 Turner Prize, Tate web siteMark Wallinger on ''State Britain'' (video)Excerpt from Wallinger's ''Sleeper'' video essay by
Richard Grayson for Mark Wallinger's
Aargauer Kunsthaus
Aargauer Kunsthaus (English: ''Aargauer Art House'') a Swiss art museum founded in 1959, and located in Aarau. The museum collection includes Swiss art from the 18th-century to the present day; and ''Naturama'', a natural history collection.
A ...
catalogue, published by JRP, Ringier, Switzerland 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallinger, Mark
1959 births
Living people
20th-century British sculptors
British male sculptors
21st-century British sculptors
21st-century male artists
Turner Prize winners
Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts
People from Chigwell
English contemporary artists