The Monument, 2015
The group includes The Monument, Mother with Child, and Old Man
Artist: Atelier Van Lieshout
The sculpture group is a monument to a future war, following the revolution of an impatient, spoiled population and the collapse of society. Subverting the classically styled monument, erected in praise of political and military conquests, this sculpture is infused with the violence and aggression of war and revolution that is never memorialized. The symbolism of the equestrian conquering hero is re-evaluated; here, in the dystopian society, the horse is again the mode of transportation as well as the weapon, and the rider is the murderer, grotesquely holding a head - as prize or weapon - along with fragmented bodies of those trampled and sacrificed. The Monument questions the cultural expression of heroism and its social implications for rulers and those who ruled.
