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Western Ticket Hall: ‘Non-Stop’ by Douglas Gordon

Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon has created an attention-grabbing artwork inspired by Soho’s history, culture and character, was his film work ‘Non-Stop’ for the new Tottenham Court Road station western ticket hall, located at Dean Street. The installation features Gordon’s own eye that blinks from a giant screen above the escalators. Reflected in the eye are neon signs of Soho establishments that no longer exist.

“I used to walk around that neighbourhood as a wee Scotsman only looking at things from the outside – because I was too nervous to go in – and this is again what makes it perfect for me is that I am revisiting something from my past – something I didn’t experience. I always wanted to see it – but I never go in – so the eye is my desire to look, look, look."
- Douglas Gordon

© Studio lost but found / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019
Courtesy Studio lost but found, Berlin

“When you get into the public you need to think of yourself as public. This is maybe one of the most political works I’ve done. It’s about getting into London and also getting out of London and the fact I was a temporary Londoner who now lives between Glasgow, Berlin and Paris. It’s an essential part of my memory and I hope it will make people reflect on where they are.”
- Douglas Gordon

Eastern Ticket Hall: ‘no title, 2018’ by Richard Wright

Turner Prize winner Richard Wright has created an intricate geometric painting in gold leaf on the vast concrete ceiling above the escalator for the new Tottenham Court Road station eastern ticket hall, located at Charing Cross Road.

“I’m hoping that it will provide a moment of preoccupation or delay and perhaps out of your peripheral vision you might engage with this place, this space.”
- Richard Wright

Wright’s commission has been made using medieval and renaissance fresco techniques whereby a paper drawing is pierced with thousands of holes through which watercolour is rubbed to create faint outlines. Once the whole image is on the ceiling, each part of the design is hand-gilded by Wright and his team applying sheets of 24 carat gold leaf directly to the raw concrete surface, using a natural glue to hold the leaves in place.

“Gold has the immateriality, quality of being absent and resent and at the same time It appears and disappears, it is almost not there at all.”
- Richard Wright

The artwork by Wright absorbs and reflects the ambient light of the ticket hall architecture. The design, which echoes the tile patterns of historic underground stations, stimulates the surface by appearing to change, fading in and out, depending on the light and viewpoint.

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Sponsor: Almacantar, City of London Corporation & Derwent London

Gallery partner: Gagosian