A drawing by John Burrell is amongst 100 artworks being auctioned to raise funds for Article 25, an architectural charity. John has participated in 10 x10 since it began and this is his sixth artwork for the charity.
Article 25's vision is for a world where buildings are designed and constructed to provide sustainable solutions to disease, poverty and need. They have more than 85 projects in 34 countries, making them the biggest architectural NGO in the world. Their projects are delivered with in-country partners to ensure that local knowledge and relationships are maximised, and that projects are sustainable even after their involvement has ended.
10x10 Drawing the City London, Article 25’s flagship fundraiser, features unique pieces of art inspired by the changing landscape of the city by over 100 artists, architects and designers including Antony Gormley, David Adjaye and Richard Wright. Bids can be placed online here (https://paddle8.com/auction/article-25/), to help them continue building solutions to global problems.
This year’s 10x10 theme focuses on London’s largest contemporary infrastructure project – the Elizabeth line. Through its development, key transport hubs along its route have transformed the urban landscape, offering London a new experience of the city. The abstracted grid of 100 squares traces the route of the Elizabeth line through central London, from Bond Street station to Liverpool Street and the City. 100 selected participants were invited to visit their allocated square and explore the journey it contains. Drawing on narratives of concealed and revealed, above and below, macro or micro, 100 imaginative artworks have come together for the event. John was given ‘Square 83’, centred on Bishopsgate and adjacent to Liverpool Street Station and the Bishopsgate Institute.
John writes, ‘While the Elizabeth Line has been slowly edging its way under London unearthing skulls skeletons and ancient shards, (those of the terra cotta ‘terrestrial’ variety), the street life of London and its culture of historic institutions and busy people carries on. Citizens make their way through the disruption, keeping the everyday street life on the move as best they can. Multi-storey buildings arrive and ‘land’ as 'near misses’ on a seemingly daily basis just sparing the remaining fragments of the historic city. New floor-plates are piled sky high providing workspace for the incomers arriving daily from the capital’s outer zones and beyond’. Artwork courtesy of John Burrell.