Antony Gormley’s sculpture
Antony Gormley has released an image of his proposed 48-metre high Dublin Docklands sculpture. He tells The Irish Times that it will be “like a charcoal drawing against the sky, changing as your position changes in relation to it. Up close you will see through it, in the distance it will cohere into a bodily image.”
It’ll be two-thirds the height of Liberty Hall, so Dubliners had better like it…
Dubliners are going to hate it, just like they hate anything new.
Me? I think it looks like a scolded child. Is it meant to be a memorial to some tragedy or another?
Why are we shying away from a ‘f*ck you, this is Ireland!’ type statue?
Comment by Brock Landers | August 23, 2007 at 9:49 amdepressed stock-broker.
Comment by steve k | August 23, 2007 at 10:12 amthis is ireland type statue? as in a forty foot leprechaun, or maybe a fat builder from navan?
personally, i can’t wait, mostly just for that smug feeling i’ll get from telling irritated dubs how modern it makes the city feel…
Comment by dave scanlon | August 23, 2007 at 10:17 ami’m already irritated at the mention of navan. i don’t need a statue or your smugness.
Comment by steve k | August 23, 2007 at 11:14 amWe could have expected something a little more proud, staring towards the sea, or the city. Instead, it’s a bit watchful, and maybe a tad scolding (although Brock suggests scolded). Maybe it’s spotted a drug deal on the quay there.
Comment by Shane | August 23, 2007 at 11:33 amScolded because it’s navel gazing as if someone has just given him the ‘well? what have you to say for yourself? What?’ speech.
A ‘f*ck you this is Ireland!’ statue? I dunno, the eternally settling pint of Guinness?
Obviously considerably scaled up as a pint wouldn’t be that impressive.
Comment by Brock Landers | August 23, 2007 at 11:38 amSo it’s not the crock o’rock like I thought, more like “the weeing man”.
Looks like a bloke from the bay have a slash against the quays.
Comment by Dan Sullivan | August 23, 2007 at 12:42 pmbetter than anything you had in albert square, dan.
Comment by steve k | August 23, 2007 at 1:11 pmIf he’s having a tinkle, then he’s facing the wrong way.
Comment by Mick O'Hegarty | August 23, 2007 at 3:58 pmIs there anyway that this sculpture can be stopped?
Comment by Brock Landers | August 23, 2007 at 5:13 pmIt’s a bit love-handley.
Why can’t we have a statue of some kid going for a piss or a mermaid with her baps out like in the rest of Europe?
Comment by copernicus | August 23, 2007 at 5:45 pmmore importantly, what will its ‘witty’ nickname be?
Comment by UnaRocks | August 23, 2007 at 5:59 pmWow, I think it’s great.
Comment by Damien Mulley | August 23, 2007 at 6:03 pmBrock - There will, I presume, be a full planning process, during which you can put forward any objections. Or you could always ring Liveline.
Copernicus - The Irish are a bit love-handley…
Comment by Shane | August 23, 2007 at 7:20 pmUna - I’ve failed miserably to come up with one, and haven’t heard a great suggestion yet, although Steve K’s ‘The Depressed Stockbroker’ cracked me up.
Damien - It’s good that someone has something nice to say. I like the idea of a giant sculpture, but I still wonder if it couldn’t be a little prouder.
Comment by Shane | August 23, 2007 at 7:22 pmThe Wanker near the Tanker, the Cock in the Dock, The Drunk in a Funk, Big Holey Man…
Comment by Green Ink | August 23, 2007 at 9:11 pmGoing with the love handles theme, I nominate the Pudge in the Sludge.
Comment by copernicus | August 27, 2007 at 5:56 pmWhy can’t the figure simply look up? Is this another example of Dublin, indeed Ireland, not having the cofidence to look up in pride as opposed to down in awkward embarrassment?
Comment by Kev | September 2, 2007 at 4:49 pmKev - I agree, but more so because we do have that pride now and shouldn’t be afraid to show it.
Comment by Shane | September 3, 2007 at 3:33 pmHe could stand with his head held high, both hands on his hips, pelvis thrust forward pointing towards the future…you know what I mean.
Comment by Dan Sullivan | September 4, 2007 at 12:48 pmIt’s all a cog! This is the exact same figure that Gormley did for UL except he filled this one in.
http://www.ul.ie/visualarts/images/Gormley_web_small.jpg
He is known as the rusty man
Comment by Dan Sullivan | September 5, 2007 at 2:41 pmDan - Well spotted.
Comment by Shane | September 5, 2007 at 2:47 pmThree more:The Spanner in the Manor, The Stiffey in the Liffey, The Dub on the Sub.
Comment by Peter H | September 5, 2007 at 8:33 pmWould a suitable name be “The Stud in the Mud”
Comment by Rosemary Twohig | September 6, 2007 at 12:29 pmRosemary - That’s about as good a suggestion as we’ve had. Sorry Peter H.
Comment by Shane | September 6, 2007 at 12:37 pmIs no-one else familiar with the work of Gormley. This is what he does. Its not about what the object itself more like its relationship to its surroundings in terms of placement and scale. They are more often than not human figures. The reason its looking down is because its looking at the people on the ground, connecting with them whether they like it or not.
Check out “Angel of the North” “Another Place” “Iron Man” or the 31 lifesize figures placed on the rooftops of London.
If the attitude of “oh….its different I dont like it” prevails, Dublin will lose out on alot of its potential. I think this is a great time for Architecture for Ireland and we shouldnt let the cynics and pessimists scupper the potential we have for some very interesting buildings and public spaces which every other major city seems to be in the process of building except Dublin it seems. First Martha Schwartz and now Gormley, we just need some of our home grown talent to come out.
Comment by Enda | September 28, 2007 at 3:40 pmAnyone who got to see Gormley’s Blind Light exhibition in London will understand that his work is contemplative; an almost religious quality in it’s introspection…. f*ck you this is Ireland-what is the ‘this’ and the ‘Ireland’ you’re getting at and why should anyone care?
Comment by Con | October 14, 2007 at 5:49 pmShouldnt we try to celebrate and promote irish arts? I just wonder why an english artist is doing a sculpture in Dublin. Shouldnt the art work being commisioned(espesially one of such huge scale) be done by an irish artist. I have no problem with him as an artist i just feel that a sculpture being done in Ireland should be done by someone irish….is it just me?
Comment by Eimear-marie | October 18, 2007 at 1:32 pmEimear-marie - It’s a big question, although I don’t mind where the artist is from as long as it works.
Con - The exhibition appears to have been excellent, but it’s fair for people to feel a little unsure of this sculpture’s suitability, given its position and size. Although, you raise an important point about what exactly “this” Ireland is that we should represent.
Comment by Shane | October 18, 2007 at 1:48 pmIt’s looking down cos “Gormley has evolved this proposal from Field, a vast installation of 35,000 sculptures last seen in Dublin in 1993 at his show in IMMA, where tiny clay objects looked up at the viewer. This dynamic has been reversed in this proposal for Dublin, where the walkers on the street will become the Lilliputians in relation to this subliminally evoked collective body” (according to the ddda website) what you see in reflects your own feelings, personally I think it looks caring
Comment by sparks | October 23, 2007 at 10:16 pmGetting back to the name, another three: The Big Dipper, Meccano Man, The Bishop (very “holey” man).
Comment by Peter H | November 26, 2007 at 8:13 pmHow about ‘The Guy in the Sky’?
Comment by DeepRed | December 6, 2007 at 12:04 am