Station # 12
Janus
Australia

Clement Meadmore
(1929 - 2005)

Clement Meadmore was born in Melbourne and lived in the United States.  He studied engineering and industrial design at the Royal Melbourne Technical College.  He presented individual exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney.  His work is closely related to that from the group of structural sculptors.  He participated in various collective exhibitions together with the artists belonging to the trend “primary structures.”

This work of art made of just one body in the shape of a ring folding in over itself, shows simplicity and great energy resembling an unclosed Mobius strip.  Standing 6 meters high and almost 7 wide, an incomparable sense of movement and changes in shape can be appreciated from viewing it from different points.  Originally, the author created stairs on the rock to allow the spectator to get out of their car, climb to its base and appreciate it close up by walking around it and enjoying its movement.

Its original base of volcanic rock and access stairs were destroyed by Colegio Olinc, who surrounded it with flowers and grass that never had anything to do with the artist’s idea.  Janus had been absent for 16 years.  Finally, in December 2012, it was returned to the sculptural ensemble thanks to the help of the Embassy of Australia, the Fundación Meadmore, the government of Mexico City and the World Monuments Fund.  The Board has succeeded, after trying for many years, in recovering this piece as national property so that everyone can enjoy it, thus taking its place once again in the sculptural ensemble where it belongs.

Original Location: Periférico Sur (South-North direction) where Colegio Olinca is located

Current Location: Cloverleaf Interchange of Insurgentes Sur and Periférico, on Insurgentes
South-North direction.