The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China was designed by Craig Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It is located on a 7.4-acre urban site on the Pearl River in Guangzhou’s booming Central Business District across the street from Zaha Hadid’s internationally acclaimed Guangzhou Opera House.
In 2009 FAPE commissioned Joel Shapiro to create Now for the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. The work was fabricated in New York by KC Fabrications. Shapiro’s sculpture greets guests in the main diplomatic entrance and is visible to the public.
On March 15, 2013, the sculpture was officially dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Consul General Jennifer Galt; the artist; Jennifer Duncan, FAPE's Director; Craig Hartman, the building's architect; and the State Department. Of the work, Mr. Shapiro said, “he hopes the community will find it buoyant and uplifting and in the end meaningful.” More information.
During the installation of Now, the Consulate’s Public Affairs Section arranged a series of outreach activities. The program engaged FAPE, the artist, the building’s architect and the local community in a way that proved interesting for visitors and beneficial for the Consulate’s efforts to bring American art and culture to southern China.
In 2010 the artist contributed the maquette of Now to FAPE for permanent display at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City.
“The sculpture that I created for the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou is a large, essentially abstract work, but it has distinct figurative references. The individual forms are simple, but in concert are unpredictable, complicated and engaging. The capacity for joyful play and free experimentation is universal, and I think transcends cultural boundaries. It is the very nature of art.”
Joel Shapiro
Now
2013
Painted aluminum 22 feet, 7 inches high
In 2014 FAPE returned to Guangzhou for the building’s dedication, and visited fifth grade students at the American International School. The students created their own personal maquettes that were inspired by Shapiro’s Now. Each figure paid homage to a specific body posture such as pride, fear, engagement or dissention, similar to the meaning behind the artist’s work. Students were asked to focus on the central idea of artists using multiples, or the notion that a piece has a new meaning with every change in perspective.
Lesson Plan
FAPE provided more than 20 works of art from its Original Print and Photography Collections for display throughout the Consulate, as well as a series of prints by Joel Shapiro for the consular section.
“The wonderful collection of fine American art that you have made possible at the Consulate makes me enormously proud, both as an American and as a diplomat representing my country overseas. With this collection and particularly with Joel Shapiro’s Now sculpture so prominently displayed, we are able to share with our friends and neighbors an aesthetic that invites people in and allows for positive exchanges. FAPE’s contributions have been an invaluable source of enjoyment for all of us who work to build productive diplomatic relations between the United States and China. ”
U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China
43 Huajiu Road, Tianhe District
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, 510620
