GLASSFIELDS
Artist: Anouk Mercier
Client: Royal London
GLASSFIELDS is a new site-specific commission by artist Anouk Mercier celebrating the rich, yet little-known, history and industrial heritage of the new Temple Way development site in Bristol. Named after the plot on which it stands and nestled where the ancient goldsmithing quarter once stood – eventually overlooked by impressive Soap Works – this area of land originally lay fallow just outside of the Medieval city walls. It is this memory of wild meadows and their scented flowers which later influenced both 18th century jewellery design and 19th century soap manufacturing, and which this new artwork evokes.
GLASSFIELDS site-specific installation at Temple Way, Bristol
Fabricated in laser cut steel and powder coated in rich gold, GLASSFIELDS is purposefully ornate and decorative; it is designed to adorn the building on which it rests much like intricate jewellery. Arranged in four unique panels presenting an overarching floral scene, the artwork alludes to bucolic escapism and exoticism inviting the viewer to wander a newly discovered landscape. As such, it subtly hints to the function of the building that it embellishes as a place to repose and recover when travelling through distant lands.
