A British Artist Brings a Bit of Victorian London to Hudson Yards

The British artist and musician Seb Patane (aka Fog School) considers New York and London to be kindred spirits, which is why he has brought a touch of the latter to his installation in the former, on Level 1 of The Shops at Hudson Yards. Fittingly, his very English inspiration turned out to have its own connection to the west side of Manhattan. Let him explain the surprising link, as well as what he hopes passersby will see in his piece once The Shops & Restaurants open back up.

On the idea behind the artwork:

“I live in an area of London called Vauxhall, and I wanted to bring a little bit of my home to New York. One of the local destinations is a place called Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, where people went to eat and drink and hear music back in the 18th and 19th centuries. I wanted to bring some of that feeling to Hudson Yards. During my research, I learned that there was once an imitation of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in New York around Greenwich Village! I thought that was extraordinary—the parallel between London and New York.”

On how he hopes visitors will interact with his piece:

“I want people to feel like they can enter the space and be a part of it. And that was happening before the lockdown—passersby taking selfies next to the figures. Hopefully, when things begin to get back to normal again in the near future—fingers crossed!—that kind of interaction will take place again.”

On appropriating found images:

“To create this piece I repurposed my own material: images of flower collages I’d made previously by pressing flowers onto reproductions of Victorian theater magazines. I blew those up to human size to create the impression of a crowd, or a scene or landscape filled with people. I wanted it to look like a theater set and, indeed, some sort of performance.”

On why he was excited to create something for Hudson Yards:

“It took me out of my comfort zone of the conventional gallery space. Also, my work usually deals with the appropriation of historical images, mainly from the Victorian theater at the beginning of the 19th century. So for me to work on something for a brand new, architecturally modern setting created an interesting clash.”

On his favorite Hudson Yards spot:

“That’s easy: Vessel. I’d seen so many pictures, but it did not disappoint in person. At first, it looked like a hologram—again, I felt this strange blurring of fiction and reality—because of the shine from the copper.”

On the best thing he sipped during his pre-pandemic installation week:

“The purple Lila cocktail at Spanish Diner, except with vodka not gin. It has a completely unusual taste—fruity without any fruit. How do they do that?”

On where he gets inspiration:

“Walking around any city with my iPod—and yes, I said ‘iPod.’ I don’t want a phone call to interrupt a song, so I use MP3s with my own downloaded playlists.”

On why he believes art matters:

“Art has two purposes, and they are direct opposites. One is to reflect current events. The other is to escape what’s happening in the world.”