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Your Space Or Mine

Artist Andre Williams answers the question, ‘Who’s next up on the pocket sculpture park plinth?’

BUILDHOLLYWOOD’s pocket sculpture garden – dubbed ‘Dancing in the Shadow of Henry’ – on the Camberwell New Road is now hosting its third dazzling artwork. 

Installation of Andre Williams’ LET IT BE ME sees the permanent plinth temporarily coloured a bold carmine shade. Affixed to one side of this cuboid pedestal is a low relief portrait of the artist. This boldly rendered face painted on 3mm aluminium is truncated at the base, so it looks like it’s peeking out from the ground. The artist is wearing chunky glasses and sporting a cerulean cap, one that’s a little bit too small for the wearer by the looks of it. Electric purple strips of aluminium striate the red ground atop the plinth and topple briefly over one side, forming an odd sort of fringe above the portrait.   

The artwork’s titular text elements sprout somewhat precariously from the bulky base. Again, formed from a layered mix of 5mm and 3mm laser cut aluminium, the four handpainted words LET IT BE ME each have their own separate panels. Vibrantly contrasting coloured grounds and painted shadowed lettering lend the work an exaggerated cartoon-like trompe l’oeil effect. These are open, conversational words on the street, addressing the public with a quirky informality. Instead of being informational or didactic, Williams’ four words prompt a smiling curiosity. Why should it be you? What are you going to do if it is you? Why can’t it be me? Williams’ unpretentious folk aesthetic draws in, intrigues rather than confronts passersby. 

09.10.24

Words by Adrian Burnham

Made at the invitation of sculpture garden curator Sarah Staton, LET IT BE ME is the artist’s first large scale outdoor public sculpture commission. The work builds on an established series of text-based works including, HARD LABOUR, IT’S A DISASTER and CHANGE YOUR MIND. During the artist’s first visit to the Dancing in The Shadow of Henry site he read phrases out loud and imagined their impact on people encountering the work for the first time. WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and LET IT BE ME were the last two phrases in contention. Regarding the latter making the final cut Williams explained: 

“I wanted to put myself on the plinth to be seen 24/7 on Camberwell New Road, as people walk by or look out from the number 36 bus. LET IT BE ME is a happy place, to be excited by words, lettering and drawing. And to share a joke.” 

Looking at Williams’ broader art practice, along with people, pattern and text, fabulous colour and fun forms are a staple. There’s a studied fascination with items of furniture which when drawn are delightfully abstracted. His 2021 largely 3D installation titled ROOM FOR DOUBT is a full-scale room interior comprising a rug inspired by 80s video games; seating and a mirror that both bring to mind the Memphis design movement, a standard lamp and two striking wallpaper designs. This installation was shown to acclaim in the 2022 New Contemporaries exhibition. His drawings have a magnetic quality. Fantastical fauna feature regularly. As do faces, some patterned, mask-like, all of them incessantly inventive. His drawings of high street shops are likewise captivating. 

Williams is a member of the London-based collective Intoart . Established at the turn of the millennium by CSM Fine Art Printmaking graduates Ella Ritchie and Sam Jones, Intoart’s evolving art school and studio programme champions equity, leadership and visibility of learning disabled and autistic artists, designers and makers. Based at Peckham Levels, London SE15, it’s a remarkable creative hub and valuable initiative that seeks to promote and realise the role that art can play in facilitating social justice. Williams is a founding member of Intoart’s design studio, Trifle ; established by Intoart in 2017, Trifle is the first multidisciplinary design studio in the UK whose work is created by artists and designers with learning disabilities. 

BUILDHOLLYWOOD is privileged to feature Andre Williams’ latest work at the Dancing in the Shadow of Henry pocket sculpture garden. Helping to support and make visible the broadest spectrum of talented creatives lies at the heart of our nationwide Your Space Or Mine initiative. Fun, idiosyncratic and thought provoking, LET IT BE ME seizes the opportunity to be celebrated and shared with the wider public.  

The sculpture is accompanied by a series of colourful billboards installed across the borough of Southwark; extending the artists new work into the local communities.

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