VITRINE presented a new public artwork ‘Everything Is Lost’ produced site-specifically for Frieze Sculpture 2018 by established British artist Tim Etchells.
Opening 4 July to 7 October 2018 in London’s Regent’s Park."Last year, our first-ever summer Frieze Sculpture was a resounding success, with more than five million visitors enjoying exceptional sculpture by artists from around the world. The 2018 edition is just as expansive and diverse, so that the public and collectors alike can experience world-class artwork in the beautiful English Gardens, designed by Markham Nesfield in 1866. My hope is that the exhibition will give pause for thought as well as great pleasure, and that visitors to Regent’s Park will have a snapshot of the fantastic imagination of artists and variety of sculpture being made today."
- Clare Lilley, Curator
‘Everything Is Lost’ is comprised of a set of powder coated metal letters distributed irregularly on a wire structure so that the simple phrase ‘EVERYTHING IS LOST’ floats against the scene behind the work - the text appearing in relation to the landscape of trees and bushes, sky, horizon, and ground. Presented as a loose constellation, the arrangement of Etchells’ phrase enacts the content of the work, its letters already drifting from ordered sequence of writing, as though the ties between them have been undone and the letters themselves are already to be considered lost.
Across the range of Etchells work he uses strong, simple, sometimes comical means to get to serious ideas. In the last 10 years he has created a body of work in neon and LED exploring contradictory aspects of language in playful and poetic ways. He is drawn both to the speed, clarity and vividness with which language communicates narrative, image and ideas, and at the same time to its amazing propensity to create a rich field of uncertainty and ambiguity, especially in relation to context and landscape.
VITRINE presented Tim Etchells at Frieze Sculpture 2018, a decision that furthered the gallery’s commitment to presenting work outside the traditional white cube gallery model.
Frieze Sculpture is located in the English Gardens of The Regent’s Park. Entrance to Frieze Sculpture is free to the public.
Tim Etchells (b. 1962, Sheffield, UK) is an established British artist living and working between London and Sheffield. He has produced major commissions for public space internationally, including neon and LED works for Southbank and Hayward Gallery, London (2011 and 2014) and the Folkestone Triennial, UK, (2014); the city-wide poster work ‘And For The Rest’ in Athens, Basel, and Brussels (2016, 2015, 2014); and the video installation ’Eyes Looking’ which took over Times Square, New York, commissioned as part of Times Square Arts Alliance ‘Midnight Moments’ series (2016).