2 million Giant Horse artwork

[Miss Alpinestarhero]

What a waste of money... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7880889.stm

Im sure it will look rather impressive (and I'll probably want to see it when its built) but.....

Maria

[Mr Speirs]

Na surely thats going to fall over at the slightest hint of a breeze!!

Four small footings and that massive body???

I have a feeling it is actually impossible.

[John 675]

... money spent better elsewhere i feel

[gettin2dizzy]

Its privately funded though.

I think it's a good idea. Not my cup of tea, but what the hell. Anything to cheer us all up :)

[John 675]

Its privately funded though.

I think it's a good idea. Not my cup of tea, but what the hell. Anything to cheer us all up :)

lol, imagine the amount of complaints if it was a government job lol . . still i can think of other things to invest two mill in.. like a race team ;)

[gettin2dizzy]

lol, imagine the amount of complaints if it was a government job lol . . still i can think of other things to invest two mill in.. like a race team ;)
Well they're halfway there. If they can get a jockey big enough.. .

[John 675]

Well they're halfway there. If they can get a jockey big enough.. .

like the chancelor.. hes a massive jocky lol ;)

[dizzyblonde]

Well they're halfway there. If they can get a jockey big enough.. .

the jolly green giant:-D was just thinking how many people you could get sat on a horse all in one go, but then thought...oooooo health and safety, not a chance

[Kate Moss]

Can't the money go to charity instead!

[missyburd]

Four small footings and that massive body???

I have a feeling it is actually impossible.
Most normal horses manage fine :p


I think it's a complete waste of money. And its not art, sorry. He's basically just enlarged a small model, where's the artistic licence in that?

[MiniMatt]

I've only got two small feet and I can stand up too :D Unless there's beer in the fridge of course.

Can't say it's my cup of tea but I don't really begrudge it; from recollection I thought the Angel of t'oop Norf was a bit carp first time I saw it too, but it's kinda grown on me now.

[madness]

Na surely thats going to fall over at the slightest hint of a breeze!!

Four small footings and that massive body???

I have a feeling it is actually impossible.

Ever seen a hoese blown over in the wind?

Or tried pushing one over? ;)

[Mogs]

I think it's a complete waste of money. And its not art, sorry. He's basically just enlarged a small model, where's the artistic licence in that?

I agree with you its just a scaled up model horse, I cant see the art either. But its going to take a lot of engineering to build it, builders need to work at the moment (as long as their brits).

[missyburd]

But its going to take a lot of engineering to build it, builders need to work at the moment (as long as their brits).
Fair point. I bet even they think it's pointless though.

The small model is great, so why can't they be happy with that? Don't get me wrong, I'm a great fan of art but some crap nowadays can not be called art. Preserved animals in transparent glass boxes, not art. A splurge of random colour on a page, not art. A collection of squares all higgledy-piggledy on a page, not art. Claude Monet, Salvador Dali, Escher, Andy Goldsworth = art.

This is just a money spending scheme which benefits noone. Sorry if it sounds harsh but just my tuppenceworth!

[gettin2dizzy]

This is just a money spending scheme which benefits noone. Sorry if it sounds harsh but just my tuppenceworth!
It's privately funded. Would you rather they just kept the cash in the bank?

It's a fun idea. We shouldn't be so afraid of them :rolleyes:

[Warthog]

I'm quite a fan of large national creations. Things that are amazing, that take feats of engineering, that will last for thousands of years and people in the future will come to see it, things that provide work for the local populace and push the boundaries of science and engineering. Things like the Eiffel tower, the hanging gardens of Babylon.

But a giant horse?

[missyburd]

It's a fun idea. We shouldn't be so afraid of them :rolleyes:
It's a stupidly expensive fun idea, I can think of much more fun ways to spend 2 million quid ;). Clearly whoever is privately funding it has more money than sense. Their choice but I can still stay it's daft :)

Besides which there are already 2-D giant horses in Wiltshire, not exactly an original idea.

[hovis]

just think of how many illigel immigrants they could have housed instead

[Mr Speirs]

Ever seen a hoese blown over in the wind?

Or tried pushing one over? ;)

I talking in a building sense not an animal sense. Animals can move their weight around and counter energy.

Ever seen a building shaped like a horse? Theres probably a reason for that.

[MiniMatt]

I talking in a building sense not an animal sense. Animals can move their weight around and counter energy.

Ever seen a building shaped like a horse? Theres probably a reason for that.


Nah, I see your horse and raise you.... an elephant:

http://www.shapesoftime.net/FileSystem/upfile/j00013/arnoldelephant50.jpg

122 foot high hotel, 7 floors, built in the 19th century. Fire took that down rather than wind.

[timwilky]

A giant horse, hardly original. The Greeks built one to end the 10 year siege of troy.


What 10 years fruitless waste of time will this giant horse end?

[MiniMatt]

The chalk horses in Wiltshire/south Oxfordshire etc - are they art? they've fascinated generations for literally thousands of years. And the creation of those would have cost far more to their creators "economy" than 2 million squid costs us today.

Is people's outrage at this directed because you don't want anyone spending money or because you think it's not "art"? As for spending money, well the great and the good seem to think that spending money is exactly what we should be doing, hence low interest rates, and as for whether it's art or not - why is one persons opinion more important than another? I can very safely offer one definition of art - if *everyone* thinks it's art, then it's not :D

Like I say, personally I'm not overly keen on it, but then I wasn't keen on the Angel at first, yet that's grown on me - one way or another it'll become an icon of the area, much like the Clyde Arc bridge in Glasgow - a straightforward normal bridge would have been much cheaper and probably more practical, London Eye - overpriced ferris wheel, perhaps, but it's undeniably a positive icon of London's image portrayed to the world, New Years Eve celebrations showed that. And the Angel is nothing special - a tall, rusty, simple design. But what all these things do is make people go "wow". And that's worth something.

[Mr Speirs]

Nah, I see your horse and raise you.... an elephant:

http://www.shapesoftime.net/FileSystem/upfile/j00013/arnoldelephant50.jpg

122 foot high hotel, 7 floors, built in the 19th century. Fire took that down rather than wind.

I ammicably stand corrected. :)
That is awesome.

[embee]

I like to see erections (ahem) with considerable visual impact, but like the others say this is just an oversized toy horse, totally uninspired i reckon.

Like it or loathe it, the Angel of the North is an "artistic work", personally I think it looks like "Cessna meets Oscar", but it has grown on me.

The white horses/chaps carved into the chalk hills have a naivety and charm linking them directly back to the originators, but this horse is just, well, a horse :smt102

On the subject, I heard on the news that the "B of the Bang" sculpture has had to be taken down (presumably for repair) because the spikes are falling off. I do like that piece though.

Anyone familiar with the two arches in Coventry city centre? They remind me too much of the curved swords of Baghdad.
http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-18633192.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B22D36115-75EB-406E-AAB4-D39D0E59E49A%7D
http://www.marinaroy.ca/images/victory-arch.jpg

[Miss Alpinestarhero]

I'm quite a fan of large national creations. Things that are amazing, that take feats of engineering, that will last for thousands of years and people in the future will come to see it, things that provide work for the local populace and push the boundaries of science and engineering. Things like the Eiffel tower, the hanging gardens of Babylon.

But a giant horse?

Wouldnt it be funny if it rusted and fell over....


and all that was left was its little 4 hooves?

*sniggers*

[missyburd]

Is people's outrage at this directed because you don't want anyone spending money or because you think it's not "art"?

Both combined! It's not that people shouldn't be spending money, it's just the way in which its being spent, it's ridiculous. The Wiltshire horses have a history which obviously makes them more interesting, but I hardly think when/if people see this giant 3-D horse in a few decades time they'll be standing back in awe.

It's a horse ffs, everyone knows what a horse looks like (unless they become extinct - unlikely :rolleyes:)! If it had significance, such as it being a symbol of how much horses have given to humans as a mode of transport etc. then maybe I'd be considering it. However I don't think that is the reason somehow!

[K]

Now if they could make its eyes glow red and shoot flames from it's nostrils...


... that would be impressive. :twisted:

[Filipe M.]

Now if they could make its eyes glow red and shoot flames from it's nostrils...


... that would be impressive. :twisted:

Only from the nostrils?

[Dappa D]

dont see why not, its a lot of money, agreed, but privately funded dont have a problem with it, the one at the monument to the unknown soldier in rome is quite breathtaking, i doubt this will have the same effect but good in any case....as long as its not taxpayers money!

[Jester666]

It's going to look awful.

[carnivore]

Yep, i can see the fiasco that this is gonna be, due to cost cutting the actual sculpture will be made of paper mache rather than resin, due to worries about it's environmental impact and out-cries from tree hugging hippies.:(

[sarah]

I think that public art is very positive. A world without creativity would be a sad place.

[missyburd]

I wonder how long it will take for some drunken nugget to try climb on the top and ride it bareback? :-D