Do you have a favorite sculpture? If it seems like an unusual question, it’s probably because sculptures don’t play as central a role in the artistic conversation as they once did. In the age of the Renaissance, sculptors like Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo Da Vinci showed us just how incredible this form of art could be. Still, sculpture is still very much alive in the world of art—even if some of us aren’t as aware of it as we could be.
To that end, here are 25 incredible modern sculptures that will make you think.
1. Uncertain Journey by Chiharu Shiota (2016)
Shiota’s sculpture consists of several boat hulls which are connected together by tangled masses of red yarn, spreading all around the room. These strands and the boats themselves are supposed to represent the unpredictability of our lives. The red color is also symbolic in its own right.
2. Mirage by Kate Grinnan (2011)
Made of enamel, plastic and sand, Grinnan’s piece is a comment on our perception of time. Although photography typically captures things in a flat and static state, Grinnan decided to turn that idea on its head by presenting a human body in full motion—while still static.
3. Play Doh by Jeff Koons (1994-2014)
Koons is a particularly famous and controversial sculptor and artist. In this piece, he tried to perfectly recreate a mashed up pile of Play-Doh that his son had played with—but he blew it up to make it 10 feet tall. Though the idea behind the piece is simple, the actual process and construction of it are very complex and intricate.
4. Hand Child by Adrian Arleo (2005)
As the name suggests, the sculpture shows a child made out of many distinct and flowing hands. In some sense, it seems like a meditation on the many influences of growing—and how “it takes a village.” What do you see in this piece?
5. Loneliness by Bogdan Rata (2011)
This sculpture continues Rata’s trend of sculpting twisted, mutated human bodies. In this one, the crouched together legs take over the entire body, concealing a face or a sense of identity. How does this relate to the idea of loneliness?
6. Open Mind by Johnson Tsang (2016)
In this impressive porcelain sculpture, some inner pair of hands seem to tear open the head from the inside, stretching it out beyond proportions. After all, it’s not so easy to keep an open mind.
7. Matchstick Men by Wolfgang Stiller (2016)
Aside from being impressive in construction, this one seems especially symbolic. The pained faces of these men, the flame consuming the stick—could this be a statement about how we “burn” our life energy over time?
8. Monument to the Unknown Bureacrat by Magnús Tómasson (1994)
This one is a bit unusual. We tend to remember the heroes of history and the flashy individuals in our lives. This sculpture turns that idea on its head by remembering the more “boring” elements of society that keep it going—though it also satirizes the idea.
9. Mustangs at Las Colinas by Robert Glen (2012)
In addition to being an impressive bronze statue all its own, it also partially a water feature with fountains simulating the horses’ hooves splashing the water below them.
10. Non-Violence by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd (1985)
Located in New York outside of the United Nations headquarters, the sculpture depicts a twisted up .357 Magnum which is unable to fire because the barrel is turned back on itself. This one is pretty self-explanatory (and has many replicas in other cities around the world).
11. Break Through From Your Mold by Zenos Frudakis (2001)
This one is another that anyone can understand even upon a glance. After all, it feels pretty good to break out of the boundaries and express ourselves!
12. Les Voyageurs by Bruno Catalano (2013)
The above is just one of the sculptures in Catalano’s “Les Voyageurs” series, a bunch of sculptures displayed in Marseilles, France. Although the bodies themselves are very realistic, the huge gaps create a strange surrealism to them as well.
13. Walking to the Sky by Jonathan Borofsky
This one is also very evocative and speaks to our needs to explore, to climb higher and to know where we’re going in life.
14. First Generation by Chong Fah Cheong (2000)
This sculpture was one of many in a series showing the lives of people by the river. Perhaps most impressive about this one is how the lowest boys in the sculpture are permanently dangling, suspended in midair.
15. Venu? by Lotta Hannerz (2004-2005)
http://www.youramazingplaces.com/40-unusual-and-creative-statue-and-sculpture-art-part-2/
Hannerz is a Swedish sculptor and artist behind this piece which was visible in Stockholm for several years. Although it only consists of a face and a hand sunken in the water, it gives the illusion of a much larger sculpture just below the surface.
16. Life Underground by Tom Otterness (2001)
The above is one of many political sculptures by Otterness located in Brooklyn, New York. Though each tells its own story, all of them speak to the experiences of the marginalized people in the city.
17. Cow Popsicle by Andras Hajdu, Balazs Magashegyi, and Krisztian Imre (2001)
This one is located in Budapest, Hungary and is a little bit of a mystery. It was part of a CowParade exhibition but still seems a bit more shocking and political than it lets on.
18. Charles La Trobe Statue by Charles Robb (2006)
This sculpture was meant to pay tribute to the history of colonialist Charles La Trobe in Melbourne, Australia. Still, the upside-downness of the statue shows a break with his ethics and ideals.
19. Corporate Head by Terry Allen and Philip Devine (1990)
This piece is a combination of a sculpture and a poem by Allen and Levine, respectively. It can be found in Los Angeles, California outside of the Ernst and Young building and serves as an economic critique of big business and corporate culture.
20. Le Pounce Monument by César Baldaccini (1965)
Although the picture might not convey the scope, this monument is 40 feet tall and weighs more than 18 tonnes!
21. Statue of Saint Václav by David Černý (1999)
This sculpture of the patron saint of the Czech Republic (who is also known as King Wenceslas) is a statement about the conflicting politics and ideologies of the area at the time, though it remains rooted in the country’s history.
22. Statue of Franz Kafka by Jaroslav Róna (2014)
This tribute to the late, great Franz Kafka depicts a scene from one of his novels, namely Amerika. For those trying to see it, it can be found in Prague in the Czech Republic.
23. God, Our Father, On the Rainbow by Carl Milles (1949-1995)
This sculpture took nearly 40 years to finally complete from conception to final design. As the name suggests, it shows a supreme creator in the process of “sculpting” a rainbow.
24. Hanging Rhinoceros by Stefano Bombardiere (2001)
Bombardiere’s statue is located in Potsdam, Germany and comes from a long line of safari animal statues in the artist’s work. In this one, the powerful rhino seems to have completely given up hope of escaping—made even more incredible by the fact that the creature is suspended in midair.
25. Love by Alexander Milov (2015)
In this one, we can see the “inner children” of two wire-frame lovers who are trying to innocently connect with one another. On the outside, their adult bodies are turned away from each other in sadness.
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