The development company for Scottish Widows appointed Modus Operandi to advise on opportunities for public art for two adjacent redevelopment schemes at the interstices of St George Street/Maddox Street and New Bond Street/Maddox Street, both designed by Eric Parry Architects.
Antoni Malinowski’s work for St George Street is based on the physical and molecular properties of glass as a liquid and utilises the full seven colours of the light spectrum. Stream of Spectrum is a single stream of coloured glass mosaic tiles that represent the subterranean river Tyburn that flows below Mayfair. For this project he collaborated with Venetian mosaic company Orsoni. The tiles are hand-set so the surface of the stream is slightly irregular, allowing the work to catch and reflect light from a variety of angles. Malinowski's commission shimmers with a multitude of colours and tones that complement the transparent glass of the building.
Describing his collaboration with Malinowski, architect Eric Parry said: 'In a world dominated by avarice and pragmatism, our physical surroundings are too often unresponsive and ‘flat’. Antoni Malinowski’s work animates the formal framework he finds with a passion for colour, texture and a resonance with the unrequited poetic potential of the everyday'.
