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One Million Queen sculpture

One Million Queen Sculpture

The One Million Queen sculpture by Matt Marga has been installed on Achilles Way, Park Lane.

Matt Marga is a London based, Italian artist working from his studio in Chelsea. When looking for a universal symbol representing the city he chose one of the most recognisable profiles, the one of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He wants to celebrate the life and legacy of one of the most influential figures in modern history and Head of the Commonwealth as a union of nations. The One Million Queen marks the first public exhibition of Marga in London.

The temporary sculpture has been commissioned by Ventique art gallery with Westminster City of Sculptures. This celebratory artwork wants to be homage to the World’s longest reigning Monarch and a symbol of the United Kingdom.

The Sculpture

Her Majesty the Queen's profile is composed of 999.999 crystals embedded in a monolithic, optically clear sheet of glass measuring 2.95 m x 5.5 m in height.

The handmade diamond-cut crystals, which are approximately 2.5 mm in diameter, are partially coated with gold foil to increase the diffraction of light.

Among the 999.999 crystals, 53 real diamonds are carefully placed at the centre of the crown’s cross, representing the 53 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. 

The number is also a nod to the coronation of Elizabeth II, which took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey, London.

The glass weighs 2500 kg and is held by an 800 kg steel frame in the ground. The engineering difficulties of installing such an imposing object required months of planning and calculations to ensure the final exhibition would have the visual impact the artist intended to achieve at the best level of stability.

The Location

Park Lane has been designated by the Westminster City of Sculpture programme ​as a suitable location to promote public art. Essential part of the concept for the sculpture was for it to be visible by the public and displayed at an outdoor location.

The sculpture is placed in an open plan receiving a fair amount of natural sunlight throughout the day.

The glittering effect of the profile emerges from a combination of light and movement, hence its positioning being central to a road. Onlookers and visitors can enjoy the moving lights reflected and scattered by the 999.999 crystals while approaching the roundabout. The particular angle of the glass and the flow of the cars from each direction prevent any type of glare that would obstruct the vehicles.

Achilles way, where the sculpture is located, is the southernmost traffic island on the street and touches the southeast corner of Hyde Park.

Ventique Art Gallery

Ventique is a contemporary art gallery based in Chelsea, London, United Kingdom. Opened in 2014, the gallery transitioned from an exhibition space, to a reference point for artists, interior designers and collectors.

The venue has hosted Marga’s London Geodes: The Beauty Inside exhibition in September 2017, and is currently displaying pieces from both the Geodes and Stargaze collection. The One Million Queen sculpture itself belongs to the latter.

The Message

Crystals are a recurring motif in Marga’s work. Attracted to this fascinating material, his activity as an artist consists of trying to put them back into their original environment.

While with the London Geodes series he recreated rock walls and put hidden crystals back into the cracks, with the One Million Queen and the Stargaze pieces, glass is the new material that serves as context for the gems. The product of this approach is a different frame, aiming to bring out their hidden beauty and showcase them in their purest form.

The transparency of the glass is the necessary mean to valorise the profile and make it look suspended in mid-air.

The original subject of the Stargaze collection were abstract conformations of crystals that symbolize dark skies filled with stars. With this work we instead see the subject change and develop from an abstract imagery to a more recognizable subject.

All transportation needed for the making and installation of the sculpture, apart from the heavy loads, have been carried out by bicycle and with the aid of bicycle trailers. The artist wants to reduce the carbon footprint of the artwork and encourage his collaborators to act in the most environmentally responsible way.

The artwork itself is lit by only two LED lights, one at the front and one at the back, concentrating only on the profile of the crystals.