I don't care about the bar of soap jibes, I like Alison Lapper's sculpture on the spare plinth.
Not only did I think it's full of beauty and grace, it made me proud to be part of a culture where someone like Alison is not shut away but can celebrate herself and be celebrated for it.
And I'm not being sarcy, neither.
5 comments:
I agree with Nic, I'm a fan of Quinn's work generally* but like this equally in its public art role.
Artistically Quinn's Lapper statue also does what good public art should which is to question the viewer as well, as Nick indicates, as to comment upon the society that produced it. In this case the question it asks about society concerns definitions of humanity and beauty. While the viewer is required to reflect upon what their reactions to this woman are.
That's why its actually even better that she's pregnant (originally she wasn't going to be but the project got delayed and then when it came time to sit for Quinnn she was - which he quite rightly saw as a positive addition to the work).
Its also good because its got Lapper herself on any number of media shows talking about herself, her life and her own art, and about her upbringing in the not altogether perfectly named 'care' system.
On Quinn his 'You Take My Breath Away' is a particular favourite.'Self' I still like - for all that its now famous for all the wrong reasons with its BritArt associations and the ridiculous 'melted by builders in Charles Saatchi's kitchen / fridge unplugging' urban myth.
He's also got a nice DNA portrait of the discoverer of DNA in the national portrait gallery, the joke there though is you'd need a DNA profiling system to recognise him - which on reflection may be a bit of a thin one for all its novelty value.
Quinn stuff at:
http://www.eyestorm.com/artist/Marc_Quinn_biography.aspx
And what do you think of the birdboxes that are going to replace Lapper's sculpture?
Can't say i'm as keen - I think the idea of a public choice of one of the temporary installations as a permanent has now been dropped but wasn't that the original idea?
That said we'll see what the bird boxes look like in situ - I'm open-minded. They werren't my favourite though.
The choice of scultural forms of the body and if you like the definition of heroism or achievement worthy of celebration is a valid dialogue between the squares sculptures but equally I guess you could say its a public space and therefore anything can go. If the cities of the continent which are big on public art like say Barcelona spent too much time debating what fits with what they'd never get anything erected.
I like the Lapper as well. In this country we are strangled by this overwhelming sense of the middlebrow, of promoting the visually literal, which is why we always have this utterly tedious debate that always includes good vs bad art and the wasting of public funds. Makes good copy. Polarises people. Makes poncy intellectuals look detatched and pompous. It's reheated every few months.
Funny you should say that - I'm planning my next post on the Battle of Britain monument which could arguably described as your ultimate middle brow, but I love it!
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