Monumental Thomas J. Price Sculpture unveiled at AGO

Moments Contained (2022), a massive bronze figure by acclaimed British artist Thomas J. Price, has been unveiled in front of the main entrance of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

The acquisition of Moments Contained was made possible by a group of donors, the majority from Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities. The sculpture faces north, overlooking the intersection of Dundas St. West and McCaul Streets.

Standing 2.7 meters tall and made of lustrous black bronze, the sculpture depicts a contemplative young Black woman, dressed in casual wear. Feet planted on the sidewalk, her demeanour is serene, and she appears outwardly confident, but the hands she hides in her pockets are visibly clenched, suggesting a tension between her inner thoughts and outward expression – Art Gallery of Ontario

This video shows both the process and the artist’s thinking behind Moments Contained.

“Around the world, Price’s powerful figures are helping us reimagine public sculpture, and it is with excitement that we welcome extraordinary art to Toronto,” says Stephan Jost, Michael and Sonja Koerner, Director and CEO, AGO.

Internationally renowned for his large-scale sculptural works situated in public spaces, Price’s massive bronze figures depict fictional Black subjects.

Described by Price as “psychological portraits,” his sculptures are composites, combining details from ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art, with subtleties observed from daily life.

His process is also an amalgamation of techniques, combining traditional sculpting with the use of 3D scanning technology for body and clothing detail. (See some of that process in the video above.)

No stranger to Toronto, in 2019, the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery hosted Ordinary Men a major exhibition of Price’s work.

In 2021, as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art, the AGO exhibited Price’s sculpture Within the Folds (Dialogue 1). It stood on the site currently held by Brian Jungen’s Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhch’ill (2022). (By the way the new Price sculpture does not affect the Jungen installation.)

Moments Contained is the first public artwork to be acquired by the AGO’s Department of Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, founded in 2020. The AGO says the department has worked to address historic gaps and erasures related to the representation of Africa and its diasporas through programming, acquisitions, and exhibitions.

Art Gallery of Ontario on acquisition of Moments Contained (2022) here.

Thomas J. Price at Hauser & Wirth, which represents him, here.

Image in the banner at the top of the post – another version of the sculpture, in Rotterdam.