A five-meter tall fountain pen sculpture by the Irish British artist Michael Craig Martin has been unveiled outside the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. It is one of the tallest, heaviest, and most daring sculptures the artist has ever created.
“The fountain pen is one of those few objects that is old fashioned, it refers to the past, but it is also a current object,” Craig-Martin says. “We still sign documents with fountain pens, there’s a grandeur to it. Whenever the American president signs a bill, he always gives away a lot of fountain pens.”
The work has been installed in the historic suburb of Jericho, which is largely residential. “It’s right on the border between the university and the rest of the city, so it has meaning in relation to the university, but it also has meaning to school kids,” the artist says. “It’s not an image that is exclusive—it’s accessible to all.”
The sculpture was created during the lockdown and was delayed for six months. Though at five meters tall, it was, he says, “technically challenging”.
As the sculpture is balanced on the nib, Craig Martin says he had to double the thickness of the galvanized steel (25mm to 50mm) so that the sculpture can withstand its very public surroundings. As he puts it: “Previously, I have made sculptures for people’s properties or gardens, or, if they are in a public space, they are not there for long. Whereas this really is permanent work, so it’s much grander and much heavier than any sculpture I’ve ever done before.”
The Blavatnik School of Government, Europe’s first major school of public policy which was founded in 2010, is itself a “real forum of ideas”, Craig-Martin says. The school was established with a £75m donation from the Ukraine-born billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26m from the University of Oxford.
Unveiling the sculpture just a week before students return to Oxford and at “a turning point in the pandemic” is significant for Craig-Martin. “It’s a welcoming gesture,” he says. “I’ve noticed, as people gather again, there’s a real joy in people seeing people they haven’t seen for a long time.”
Craig-Martin notes that, in the absence of public money for the arts, “many institutions are dependent on philanthropy from very wealthy individuals”. The artist adds that the Herzog & de Meuron-designed school itself is a “wonderful and important institution” that brings together people from across the globe.
“There are few things more important in our modern, fractured world than having young people come together, and then go out into the world and maybe in 20, 30 or 40 years, those relationships they made in Oxford will have a positive significance.”