Thomas J Price

PROJECT

Best known for his large-scale bronze figures, British artist Thomas J Price creates contemporary monuments that echo the characteristics of Classical statuary. However, unlike traditional public monuments commemorating historical figures, Price’s sculptures are decidedly ordinary. Instead, Price uses Western sculptural traditions to elevate the everyday lives of people of colour. Reaching out, 2022, and All in, 2021, both reflect Price’s desire for more accurate and meaningful representations for marginalised voices, including his own. These figures are imbued with Price’s day-to-day observations, as well as his own lived experiences as a Black man. The works, like many others by Price, challenge the viewer’s expectations, prompting them to consider their own socially conditioned attitudes. Price’s relatable, everyday monuments reframe the ordinary as extraordinary, while commenting on how our perspective is shaped by our environment.

Purchased with funds donated by Neville and Diana Bertalli and Loti & Victor Smorgon Fund, 2023
Felton Bequest, 2022

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Thomas J Price is one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. His work foregrounds the beauty of the everyday to celebrate people of colour and subvert outdated structures of cultural hierarchies. Price studied at Chelsea College of Art before completing his MA at the Royal College of Art, London. In 2022, Price’s Warm shores was unveiled as the first permanent public sculpture to celebrate the contributions of the Caribbean Windrush generation and their descendants in the UK. From 2021 to 2022, Price’s solo presentation Witness (in collaboration with The Studio Museum in Harlem) was displayed in Marcus Garvey Park, New York. Throughout 2023, Price presented new projects with the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London, as well as presenting his first solo exhibition in the United States, Beyond Measure, at Hauser and Wirth, Los Angeles.