iRoyal Academy of Arts · Piccadilly
Nicole Eisenman
A major new courtyard sculpture by New York-based artist Nicole Eisenman, installed in front of Burlington House.
At the bottom of an eight-metre pile, a woman in Birkenstocks bends double under a barrel of wine, one hand on a stick, the other holding out an empty glass for a drip that never comes. That's Nicole Eisenman, carrying what she needs: the wine, a potato, her cat Edie, and the late sculptor Phyllida Barlow on top with a vase of flowers on her head.
Stack stands in the Annenberg Courtyard in front of Burlington House, and you walk around it rather than into it. Eisenman and Edie are bronze, Barlow is aluminium, the barrel is oak. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the RA's first president, now shares his courtyard with a giant potato.
The Guardian's Ben Eastham called it "the bleakest and best form of comedy"; the Morning Star found it glorious, dwarfing the "rather pompous" Reynolds statue. It's free with no booking, open until 9pm Fridays and Saturdays. Her gallery show is round the corner at Sadie Coles HQ, Savile Row, until 21 November.
Look for
The artist at the base
Look at the bottom figure: Eisenman in Birkenstocks, bent double on a stick, holding out an empty glass towards the wine barrel on her back.
Edie the cat
The artist's cat sprawls over the potato, her auburn fur made with a deliberately distressed bronze patina.
Phyllida Barlow on top
The late Royal Academician sits at the summit in aluminium, smiling, with a vase of flowers balanced on her head.
The potato
A surreally large potato rests on the oak barrel, standing in for the food that keeps the artist going.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Cheap Culture
- Evening Visits
Skip if
You want a gallery show: this is a single sculpture standing outdoors in the courtyard.
Also at Royal Academy of Arts
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Nicole EisenmanCourtesy of Royal Academy of Arts
- RootsCourtesy of The Photographers' Gallery
- Sanlé Sory: Colour Years© Sanlé Sory, 2026. Courtesy of Tezeta.
- Snap Happy! How Children Became PhotographersCourtesy of The Photographers' Gallery
- Royal Academy of ArtsYair Haklai / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Photographers' GalleryThe wub / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- National GalleryCarlos Delgado / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- National Portrait GalleryIstvánka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Churchill War RoomsJenny Poole / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0