Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

Less cuddly, more creepy: The Human Factor at the Hayward Gallery

Don't be fooled by the bear on the poster – this survey of modern figurative sculpture features rotting corpses, animal guts and live bees

[photo Linda Nylind/© the artist] 
issue 16 August 2014

Jeff Koons’s ‘Bear and Policeman’ has been used to advertise the Hayward Gallery’s latest show The Human Factor (until 7 September). But don’t be fooled; this exploration of the human figure is neither cute nor cuddly. It includes photos of rotting corpses, mannequins made from animal guts and live bees. It’s more creepy than kitsch.

The show sets out to survey how artists over the past 25 years have reinvented figurative sculpture. Within the concrete rooms, the curators have installed a mix of diverse pieces. The effect is part morgue, part Madame Tussauds. It works well when sculptures are given ample space: Cathy Wilkes’s installation of three grief-stricken figures has been given an entire room, as has Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Him’ — a praying boy with Hitler’s face.

Many of the other works are crammed together in a puzzling fashion. This is problematic for a sculptural show, given how site-specific an art form it is.

Lara Prendergast
Written by
Lara Prendergast
Lara Prendergast is executive editor of The Spectator. She hosts two Spectator podcasts, The Edition and Table Talk, and edits The Spectator’s food and drink coverage.

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