Sculpture Smashed at Tracey Emin curated Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2008
August 6th, 2008
Tracey Emin in front of Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez’s sculptures via Guardian
After a slew of traffic-heavy evenings at the Tracy Emin curated “Summer Exhibition 2008″ at the Royal Academy of Art, it was on an uneventful Saturday afternoon that a visitor knocked over “Christina”, a 9 ft tall sculpture by Costa Rican artist, Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez. Though the piece wasn’t of major magnitude in cost and is valued at $12K it was described by Tracey Emin as the star of the show.
Art: Smashed sculpture proves show-stopper [Guardian]
Visitor shatters £6,000 art work [BBC]
Summer Exhibition 2008 [The Royal Academy]
Frauleins Christina, Panthea, Zenobia, Semiramis, and Guinevere, Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez via Artinfo
The staff had been vigilant about the safety of the five totems, but that apparently was not enough. Some patrons thought the loud crash and scattering pieces were actually part of the show. The event was reportedly an accident, and occurred when a visitor lost her balance, sending the piece crashing to the ground. The gallery closed for a few hours, and eventually reached the decision that a barrier would be erected around the four remaining sculptures. Both the artist and Tracey Emin have declined to comment.
Tracey Emin, with sculptures, via Guardian
“The Royal Academy recognized the vulnerability of these works, and much consultation took place as to how to best protect them,” the Royal Academy said in a statement. “The barriers were arrived at as the best option. Summer Exhibition 2008 has got through its busiest period including many lively evening events where we were most concerned about the work, and it is disappointing that this has happened on a quiet Saturday afternoon.”
August 7th, 2008 at 4:11 am
“Some patrons thought the loud crash and scattering pieces were actually part of the show”.
What does that say about the patrons and the work?
August 8th, 2008 at 4:20 am
“The staff had been vigilant about the safety of the five totems, complete with a pair of Emin’s black boots on the floor, in the center.”
Love it. Best laugh I’ve had all week. The graphic showing a pair of Ms Emin’s boots is my work, taken from http://coxsoft.blogspot.com/. I removed Ms Emin from the original photo and filled in the background, but left her boots to make the joke “If Ms Emin calls them art, they are art”.
I knew I should have put my initials on that graphic. Never trust a photo from Coxsoft Art with the initials I.C.! And you wrote some text to explain the boots I left. Terrific. Haw, haw, haw.
Have you seen my graphic of Damien Hirst’s shark? Look for “Laughing Shark” on my blog. You’re welcome to use that too. My favourite is Naomi Campbell mopping the floor in City Hall. I scooped all the New York newspapers with that creation.