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(New York, NY — February 25, 2025) — Times Square Arts is pleased to present Grounded in the Stars, a 12-foot-tall figurative bronze sculpture by artist Thomas J Price whose multidisciplinary practice confronts preconceived notions of identity and representation. With Grounded in the Stars, Price reimagines both the monument and monumentality in Times Square, one of the world’s most iconic public spaces. Grounded in the Stars will be on view at Broadway and 46th Street from April 29 to June 17, 2025.
In conjunction, Times Square Arts will also present Price’s stop-motion animations Man Series on over 90 of the district’s billboards — nightly from 11:57pm to 12am, May 1–31, 2025 as a part of the Midnight Moment program, the world’s largest and longest-running digital public art initiative. Price’s multi-channel presentation on the screens and sculptural installation on the plaza below forms a two-part takeover in Times Square, foregrounding the intrinsic value of the individual and amplifying traditionally marginalized bodies on a monumental scale.
“Times Square stands as an iconic symbol and site of convergence, uniting people from all walks of life, individual stories, and experiences intersecting on a global platform. The intention of my public works is to become part of the place they inhabit and its physical, material history, as well as the visitors that pass through and around the location, no matter how fleeting,” says Thomas J Price. “I hope Grounded in the Stars and Man Series will instigate meaningful connections and bind intimate emotional states that allow for deeper reflection around the human condition and greater cultural diversity.”
A fictionalized character constructed from images, observations, and open calls spanning between Los Angeles and London, the young woman depicted in Grounded in the Stars carries familiar qualities, from her stance and countenance to her everyday clothing. In her depiction, one recognizes a shared humanity, yet the contrapposto pose of her body and the ease of her stance is a subtle nod to Michelangelo’s David. Through scale, materiality, and posture, Grounded in the Stars disrupts preconceived ideas of what defines a triumphant figure and challenges who should be rendered immortal through monumentalization.
Installed at ground level on a wide low base, the work invites engagement with the hundreds of thousands of people who traverse the plazas each day, the woman in Grounded in the Stars cuts a stark contrast to the pedestaled permanent monuments — both white, both men — which bookend Duffy Square, while embodying a quiet gravity and grandeur. In a culture that increasingly encourages a faster pace, Grounded in the Stars is an introspective meditation on humanity. Price’s work offers viewers a unique opportunity to experience Times Square in a new light, and share in a moment of personal reflection and empathy amidst the hyperactivity of the district.
Price’s Man Series (2005-present) is a body of stop-motion animation works featuring sculpted, plasticine heads of male characters against stark black backgrounds, each coming alive through subtle shifts in eye movements and facial expressions. These shifts focus the viewer's attention to the way in which we track and perceive individuals, an inner dialogue made conscious with the tactility of the artist's material modelling process. In the multi-channel presentation of Man Series, created for the Midnight Moment program, six characters are multiplied across 95 monumental displays, bringing a stillness to the visual cacophony of the screens, their gaze cast just beyond the reach of the nightly spectators in the plazas below.
Both Man Series and Grounded in the Stars coincide with Thomas J Price’s first major solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in New York, titled Resilience of Scale. Price will present five towering figurative bronze sculptures alongside a large-scale photographic work comprising 18 separate framed images. Soaring to heights as great as 12 feet and installed directly on the gallery floor, Price’s figures celebrate everyday people by granting them the grand scale central to Western traditions of monument making, a genre historically reserved for the social, economic and cultural elite. Together, the works in this exhibition create an environment where such mobility is truly felt: viewers will be able to move through the space to engage the works directly and from all vantage points, positioning themselves within the artist’s narrative rather than merely observing from a distance.
Support for Grounded in the Stars is provided in part by the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Morgan Stanley, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and additional in-kind support from the Times Square Edition Hotel.
ABOUT THOMAS J PRICE
Born in 1981, Price lives and works in London. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London and has held solo exhibitions at institutions including: The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada; The National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Kunsthalle Krems, Austria; and Kunsthal Rotterdam. Price’s work is held in collections such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; and The Legacy Museum, Montgomery, AL.
Price was commissioned by Hackney Council to create the first permanent public sculptures to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation and their descendants in the UK, unveiled in June 2022. His solo presentation, ‘Witness’, in collaboration with The Studio Museum in Harlem was on view in Marcus Garvey Park from 2021 – 2022.
In 2025, Price will open a multi-venue exhibition in Florence across Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio and Museo Novecento, on view from March. In September the artist will unveil the inaugural Neil Balvanes Tallawoladah Lawn Commission at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia.
ABOUT TIMES SQUARE ARTS
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pamela Council, and Mel Chin, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity.
PRESS CONTACT
timessquarearts@culturalcounsel.com
