Bill Woodrow

Description

This is the full-sized version of Bill Woodrow's sculpture that was installed on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square from spring 2000 to the summer of 2001. Regardless of History is one in a series of sculptures in which Woodrow has used the book as a primary motif, as in Sitting on History I 1994-97, which may be seen in Sculpture at Goodwood 98/99.

When invited to make a proposal for this project, Woodrow looked anew at a maquette for a sculpture he had wanted to realise on a civic scale - a book and tree with a severed head on the ground. He thought he might develop the theme for the empty plinth. During the progress of the work he made two maquettes, one at 1/10 scale, the other 1/4 scale: both were cast in bronze, and include the image of the plinth.

In Regardless of History the head comes from a fallen statue and is placed on the plinth like a museum exhibit. Topped by a book (a symbol for the accumulation of knowledge) and a tree, the whole is bound together by the tree's roots, providing a narrative on the cyclical quality of time. The supremacy of nature over civilisation is shown here as it may be observed in the jungles of South America or Thailand, where deserted temples have been reclaimed by the nature we exploit. The roots take over the plinth and appear as they might on the banks of a deep country lane where, over time, they have been exposed by rain and wind erosion. There are also riches to be found in the formal qualities of Regardless of History: in the texture of the head where wax was dripped on to the original model, in the scale of the tree formed by real branches burnt out during the casting process, and in the Neoclassical plinth, which in the maquettes is integral to them. The inference is that civilisation comes and goes.