Freedom (Frudakis) – Wikipedia

Sculpture by Zenos Frudakis in Philadelphia

Freedom is a bronze public sculpture in the form of a large slab and a freestanding statue by American sculptor Zenos Frudakis, installed in 2000 outside the offices of GlaxoSmithKline in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The sculpture bears an inscription that encourages viewers to pose for a photograph in an empty cavity.

The sculptor, Zenos Frudakis, wanted to make a sculpture that centered around the idea of breaking free.[1][a] The slab is said to represent freedom from all restrictions: mental, political, religious, and physical.[3]It has been called a "visual metaphor for the process of transformation".[4]

The sculpture, completed in 2000 and dedicated on June 18, 2001,[2] consists of a 20-by-8-foot-long (6.1m 2.4m) bronze slab weighing 7,000 pounds (3,200kg) and a freestanding bronze statue.[3] It is installed on a wall outside the GlaxoSmithKline offices in Philadelphia.[5]

Freedom centers around four human figures who appear to be freeing themselves from the slab. There is one cavity on the slab from which a human figure has broken free, and where Frudakis left the inscription "stand here" as an invitation for viewers to pose for a photograph by standing inside the cavity.[6]

Frudakis cast his own face and his sculpting tools as part of the artwork, and included depictions of twenty-five people and a feline in the bronze.[1]

Freedom has been recognized as one of the best public art sculptures.[6] Architectural Digest called it one of the "28 of the Most Fascinating Public Sculptures" in 2019.[7]

Writing in The Independent in 2021, John Rentoul ranked the sculpture fifth on his top-ten list of best public artworks.[5]

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Freedom (Frudakis) - Wikipedia