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Wednesday 17 June 2009

The Superlambbanana and Public Art

superlambanana Pictures, Images and Photos

From Superlambanana, "The Super Lamb Banana was the original work of Japanese-based artist Taro Chiezo. Commissioned for the Art Transpennine Exhibition of 1998, the sculpture was a controversial, but welcome addition to the public art arena in Liverpool. Standing an impressive seventeen feet tall and comprised of concrete and steel, the statue first attracted interest from its original position on the Strand.

The unusual artwork was created to warn of the dangers of genetically modified food, whilst being appropriate to the city of Liverpool due to the port's rich history in the trade of lambs and the import of bananas.

Superlambanana Pictures, Images and Photos

As with much modern art, there was initially a degree of scepticism around the Lamb Banana, but residents and tourists alike quickly began to see the unusual artwork as a welcome and humorous feature of the city at a time of much change and large-scale regeneration. Always intended as a piece which would change location around the city centre, it was perhaps less well predicted that the sculpture would see quite such a range of colours during its time. From the Breakthrough charity sponsored "pink" period to the quasi-vandalism that turned it temporarily into a Friesian cow banana..."

angel of the north Pictures, Images and Photos
Exactly the same thing happened with Gateshead's Angel of the North by Antony Gormley...

“People are always asking why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them. The angel has three functions - firstly a historic one to remind us that below this site coal miners worked in the dark for two hundred years, secondly to grasp hold of the future expressing our transition from the industrial to the information age, and lastly to be a focus for our hopes and fears.” - Antony Gormley, sculptor

“Maybe the Angel of the North will embrace travellers with those wings and tell them that, wherever they live, here is homecoming” - Beatrix Campbell, The Guardian

Angel Of The North Pictures, Images and Photos

“I think the greatest thing for the ‘Angel’ is that Brian Sewell has classed it as rubbish, which must mean it’s good…” - Eamonn McCabe, Picture Editor, The Guardian

You know I am enraptured by angels, right?!

And that I love much of what passes for art, and particularly public art, by and for so many of the people...

J'adore Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, and I now have a bit of a soft spot for Liverpool's Superlambbanana!

Hell, la Fhina's heart is big enough, my art-treasures! Mwah!

angel of the north Pictures, Images and Photos

13 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi Fhina,
I miss you!! Come read my blog!!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Unknown said...

Hi Fhina,

I like the angel too, although I have always wished its wings could have been shaped differently! But its giganticness(!) is what makes it impressive. The superlambananas are fun and can do much to brighten an industrial northern city.

san said...

Love the superlambananas and really love the Angel. Thanks :-)

Diane said...

I love the angel. I have a thing for angels... and crosses... and old churches. Crap. For an agnostic, I surely like a bunch of religious symbols, don't I? ;)

Hey Fhi, if you've been able to get over to Stinking Billy's, will you please tell him for me that I can't access his webpage/blog. I don't know why, but Blogger won't let me. I was so happy to see him back and I don't want him to think I'm ignoring him. I know he was here the other day, too. Thanks love! XO

ArtistUnplugged said...

What some interesting art pieces....fond of the angel and crosses also like Diane. Thanks for leaving comments, it was SO GOOD to hear from you!!!! :)

A Woman Of No Importance said...

Michelle, my darling, I shall be there soonest - Work is a 'mare at the moment, and I am bringing work home, which is interfering with my blogging, and my dahlink friends and sisters, such as you! Hugs! xox

Derrick: The wings are very aeroplane-like, definitely, which for me, roots the sculpture in our industrial, ship-building past... I loved it from the get-go, but not everyone has viewed it with the same laissez-faire attitude. Mr Gormley has done fabulous things to bring art closer to schoolchildren across the north... He ticks all the boxes for me - Love to you, Derrick x

Sandycalico - Such a sweet name! Welcome!

Diane: I know, I can't get into Billy's blog either - I think I have already e-mailed him about that - I don't know what's going on... I love the pagan aspect of churches, if that makes sense, and I do think about angels in very real ways - as in using them to pull ourselves forward, and voice what really matters to us... Putting it out there, in the open - And I have begun to adopt crosses as jewellery, I must admit, after scorning them for years - Not religious, but spiritual, much like you, my darling Diane xox

AU: Thank you precious, AU - I have been busy with work and with being away from home, as have you been very busy - And I'm just getting caught up with my beloved friends and their lives and blogs, to be fair... Bless you, take care, lots of love xxx

Bee said...

Angels and bananas . . . surely forces for the good! (Are all of these pictures yours? Fascinating angles.)

Thank you for the kind comments you left for me. xx

blognut said...

I think that the superlambbanana is awesome!

I need to get one of those (maybe a bit smaller than the original).

Bloggus Bananus
XXOOXX

Expat mum said...

Oh my god - after a long TransAtlantic flight and a drive (or train) up the A1, that bloody Angel makes me weep. Even my kids now say "Oh, we're almost at Grandma's". This year, I swear we're going right up next to it. I'll do a quick run round Asda, then onto the Angel!

Rosaria Williams said...

Artists tend to get ahead of all of us, stating our fears, crying our tears.

Chairman Bill said...

I'm with Sewell.

Carma Sez said...

We recently had a piece of public art installed in our small town. It was supposedly made by a famous artist, but it pretty much came out looking like something out of a Dr. Seuss story! That being said, I have been involved in the visual arts field for several years and have come across many works of art that were even more absurd. I like the Super Lamb Banana and the meaning behind it.

Chairman Bill said...

A lot (in fact the majority) of modern art is like the 1970s concept album - incredibly pretentious and self absorbed.

Something I wrote earlier...

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