A new sculpture has appeared outside the Liverpool Street Elizabeth line entrance. And, wow.
"Infinite Accumulation" by Yayoi Kusama is a towering, teasing sculpture on the pavement outside the station entrance. Resembling a demented balloon arch or perhaps a spool of chromatin, it beckons us to pass beneath, to look up and admire or admonish the Square Mile's skyline.
I do so, and it occurs to me that almost every building visible from this spot did not exist a decade ago. The City is forever changing.
Indeed, the streetscape has already changed from this artist's concept (below) drawn in 2017. The corner building has been demolished and replaced by something bigger and better.
Kusama has a bit of a thing for polka dots, and this new work takes that motif into three glorious dimensions. I was rather taken with it. The random folds lead the eye on a madcap wander, a gaze that is reflected back from the polished metal at every turn. Kids will love it. Instagrammers will love it. Boring old farts will moan about it. Some people might perhaps liken it to a certain sex toy... who knows.
Either way, it's huge. The photos can't do justice to a sculpture that reaches 10 metres into the air, and covers around 100 metres of ground. It is Kusama's largest ever public artworl.
The installation, part of the Crossrail Art programme, follows on from Conrad Shawcross's "Manifold", which was installed outside nearby Moorgate Elizabeth line station last summer.
Bravo to all involved, I say. Both these works are admirable sculptures that enliven the stations.
