An ‘affront to nature’ or a barrel of fun?
(With apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley)
NOTHING disturbs the peace of the Serpentine’s early morning swimmers, save for the odd disgruntled duck.
All that has changed with the arrival of The London Mastaba, a monumental artwork unveiled yesterday slap-bang in the middle of Hyde Park’s lake.
Towering 20m over the water and stretching 90m wide, the work is made of 7,506 brightly coloured barrels affixed to scaffolding and designed by Christo, the artist famed for his supersized installations.
Attending its unveiling yesterday, Christo said he welcomed both “critical or positive” reactions. At the Serpentine Swimming Club, where members must now swim down a narrow channel and avoid bumping into the platform that keeps the 660-ton structure afloat, there were plenty of both.
“It casts a shadow on the water. We’re swimming in gloom,” complained one regular. “It’s an affront to nature,” said another, referring to the red, blue and mauve colour scheme that Christo said he carefully chose in relationship to the surroundings.
The Bulgarian-american artist has positioned the sculpture directly opposite the bank where the swimmers enter the water because there it can be seen from the maximum number of viewing points within the park.
For every swimmer who described it as “hideous”, “intrusive” and an “ego trip”, there was another who loved it. “It makes a change from the wildlife. I’m all in support of good art,” said one, while a friend said: “There was a beautiful colour to the water this morning from the reflection.” One dog walker said the structure was a hit with her cockapoo “because it keeps the ducks away and she can go in the water”.
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York who now chairs the Serpentine Gallery, said: “The London Mastaba will bring all the benefits that come with great public art. It will add new energy to the city, it will help people see the familiar in a new light and provoke conversation and debate. I think it’s fair to say that no two people will have the same reaction to it, and that’s exactly how great art should be.”
Mr Bloomberg claimed that, according to one estimate from the London School of Economics, the sculpture could generate £150 million for the economy through increased tourism.
Christo – who long ago discarded his full name, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff – self-funds his projects through the sale of his work. No public money is used and he will not accept sponsorship. This is Christo’s first large-scale British work. He has previously wrapped Berlin’s Reichstag and Paris’s Pont Neuf in fabric. But while The London Mastaba is one of the largest sculptures to appear in the capital, for its creator it will soon be small fry. His next Mastaba will be 10 times larger, sited in Abu Dhabi and dwarfing the largest of the Egyptian pyramids.
I met a swimmer by the Serpentine
Who said: A pile of barrels fills the sky That makes me fretful as a porpentine – Its shadow chills the lake as I crawl by. Of course, it’s art, and so that must be fine. Contrary Christo’s sure one of those chaps Who likes to build a fuel dump in the Park, But puts your finest buildings under wraps. He won’t build subtly, or conceal your trash: The critics love it when he makes his mark; Art follows art and cash calls out to cash. I call it cheek; they call it a mastaba. We minnows like to make a smaller splash; I won’t be sorry when it’s left the harbour.