Two giant index fingers created by Jalisco-born artist Jose Rivelino have been attracting plenty of attention in London’s emblematic Trafalgar Square as part of the Dual Year of UK and Mexico.
The 25-ton sculpture titled “You” is made from bronze and coated in white paint. The fingers point toward each other in an assertive statement that the artist says is about equality.
“In a world that is self-evidently unequal, the piece calls upon viewers to question their attitude to the highly significant issue of equality between human beings,” he says.
Rivelino, born in the small Jalisco town of San Jose de Gracia in 1973, has found the urban setting to be fertile ground for his interventions. His themes are derived from situations or issues of public and current interest, and his works “alter the aesthetic perceptions of passers-by through resolutions in form that move freely between the real, the surreal, the tangible and the intangible,” notes the Dual Year website.
Rivelino has participated in more than 60 group exhibitions and 35 solo shows both in Mexico and abroad. He gained international acclaim with “Nuestros Silencios” (Our Silences), a monumental sculptural installation sculpture which toured in nine European cities, and in 2010, exhibited at the Mexican Pavilion at Shanghai Expo.
“Public space is always the most sincere, challenging place in which to display an artist’s work,” he says.
“You” is one of four monumental works by Mexican creators that have been installed in various locations across the British capital. The Contemporary Mexican Sculpture – The Vision of Four Artists series also includes pieces by Yvonne Domenge (1946), Jorge Yazpik (1955) and Paloma Torres (1960) installed on The Mall, Canary Wharf and in Grosvenor Gardens. The sculptures will stay on show until December.
Says curator Nuri Contreras Martret, “As one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, London has a strong reputation for its ongoing commitment to public sculpture and is therefore, a fantastic platform to showcase contemporary Mexican art.”