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Ireland's crappiest public art.

whisky_galore

I've noticed that just about every town and city has got these obligatory plaques or bronze sculptures of notables or something thrown together with a few rocks, usually at great expense. Limerick city being the latest getting a laughable 'likeness' of Terry Wogan.

Your nominations for crap public art, memorials and sculptures please!

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CruelCoin

The spire....

Seriously.
Consultant ****head #1 - "what can we design to commemorate this new forward looking, modern ireland?"
Consultant ****head #2 - "Hold my Pint! I know, a great big ****ing spike"

sbsquarepants

sjb25 wrote: »

this heap of sh1t on the gorey bypass rusting away cost â‚¬113,000 it would seem FFS

http://m.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/news/roadside-art-proves-a-spikey-issue-27498001.html

I love that hedgehog!
It is hard to see where the 113k went though.

I also love the spire. What did that cost (had to be a couple of million minimum I'd say?)

I live in tallaght and although not quite public art, we do have an unusually erudite little scrote spray painting cocks all over the place and calling himself wanksy!
I seen one a while back tagged "exit through the jip shop":D

.......

This post has been deleted.

Squeeonline

andekwarhola wrote: »

The Spire is cool.

The stiletto in the ghetto.

5rtytry56

Those car shaped vignettes on the corner of dame street and George's street.

fortwilliam

search?q=the+knights+who+say+ni&rlz=1C1GGRV_enIE751&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1opD5q-DUAhWLD8AKHcKwA44Q_AUICigB&biw=1576&bih=736#imgrc=9VrlXs2lBBjYuM:

snowflaker wrote: »

A Pylon holding the book of Durrow... (not a fan!)

CruelCoin

Squeeonline wrote: »

The stiletto in the ghetto.

The stiffy in the liffey

Quin_Dub

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the random piles of Turf on the M7/M9.

keano_afc

CruelCoin wrote: »

The stiffy in the liffey

The Spire in the mire

[Deleted User]

AllForIt wrote: »

This piece of waste of space.

Situated in the grounds of the UCD campus.

I thought Mork and Mindy had arrived

I really like the Vet Egg in UCD.

Have you ever looked inside it? There's a little peep-hope you can look through.

All of the tiny perforations in the shell of the egg allow tiny dots of light through. So it looks as though you're looking into the universe, when you look inside.

It's a nice reference to growth and possibility, especially appropriate for a university.

LionelNashe

LadyMacBeth_ wrote: »

The Spire :P

andekwarhola wrote: »

The Spire is cool.

AllForIt wrote: »

I think 'The Spire" is a piece of crap. Sorry if I've taken the level of intellectual debate down but I don't care.

I recall decades ago that there was a large thing in the center of O'Connell street. I don't know what it was but it looked better than this thing that looks like it's going to rust over the years.

I see it as a pretentious attempt to have a tall structure in a city that doesn't have any tall skyscrapers as seen in other more important cities.

The whole look of O'Connel street has been ruined by The Spire. It's not good looking, it's not amazing looking, it's not anything, it just look like a badly though out piece of crap.

I am really looking forward to the day that this monstrosity is taken down, as it surly will be in time. It's utterly meaningless in every respect to the country and to the locals and I would hope the locals would petition that it would be demolished in favor of something more appropriate.

The first post in this thread that said the spire was crappy got one thanks. The reply that said "The spire is cool' has 16 thanks at the moment. I'm a local and I like the spire. It's simple, and it's meaning to me is simple. "Look at me, I'm a huge f**king spire". It's three times the size of Nelson's pillar, which the British built on the same spot, which gives it an important context. So does the fact that it was commissioned for the millennium. It's ambitious and audacious. It's saying that modern Ireland can be the same. (Whether that's true of Ireland is up for debate, but we can but hope.)

Edit: In fact, I've just realised why I like the positive message of the spire. It's because it goes against our usual begrudgery, including my comment just now saying that Ireland's ambition and audacity is debatable. We're much more likely to have a thread on a forum to criticise works of public art than to point out the good ones.

Grayson

Wibbs wrote: »

When I think of the Spire, TBH what comes to mind is this

A perfect placeholder for the huge invisible bills we're all paying as a result of the excesses of the time of its birth.

Aesthetically I should like it, but I find it hard to for some reason. I think partially because it just is, it's not publicly interactive in the way Nelson's column was, beyond being an aiming point for drunken urination. Then again maybe that's a sign of the times, a modern Nelson's pillar has to be more sterile and not interactive?

If, on some frosty morning, I see a kid with his tongue stuck to it, then I'll consider it worth the money spent.

Grayson

CruelCoin wrote: »

The spire....

Seriously.
Consultant ****head #1 - "what can we design to commemorate this new forward looking, modern ireland?"
Consultant ****head #2 - "Hold my Pint! I know, a great big ****ing spike"

They had a competition for it if I remember correctly. I think one of the other proposals was of a replica of nelsons column that was encased in perspex. The spire's not that bad when you consider that.

Annasopra

whisky_galore wrote: »

I've noticed that just about every town and city has got these obligatory plaques or bronze sculptures of notables or something thrown together with a few rocks, usually at great expense. Limerick city being the latest getting a laughable 'likeness' of Terry Wogan.

Your nominations for crap public art, memorials and sculptures please!

That Terry Wogan statue is really sh It looks like he is holding a penis ffs.

Madam Oblong

Listen up public art managers, if it's not a photorealistic sculpture of a dead rock star, Irish people will hate it

Dyr

Madam Oblong wrote: »

Listen up public art managers, if it's not a photorealistic sculpture of a dead rock star, Irish people will hate it

Go easy, you'll first have to introduce them to the idea that john q taxpayer isn't there just to foot the bill for them and their pals portfolios :eek:

Shenshen

LionelNashe wrote: »

The first post in this thread that said the spire was crappy got one thanks. The reply that said "The spire is cool' has 16 thanks at the moment. I'm a local and I like the spire. It's simple, and it's meaning to me is simple. "Look at me, I'm a huge f**king spire". It's three times the size of Nelson's pillar, which the British built on the same spot, which gives it an important context. So does the fact that it was commissioned for the millennium. It's ambitious and audacious. It's saying that modern Ireland can be the same. (Whether that's true of Ireland is up for debate, but we can but hope.)

Edit: In fact, I've just realised why I like the positive message of the spire. It's because it goes against our usual begrudgery, including my comment just now saying that Ireland's ambition and audacity is debatable. We're much more likely to have a thread on a forum to criticise works of public art than to point out the good ones.

I always feel that asking what the meaning of the spire is is similar to asking what the meaning of the Eiffel Tower is....or the meaning of the Atomium, or the Brandenburg Gate?

There are lots of function-less structures in many cities across the world that are ambivalent enough to allow pretty much any interpretation you fancy. Or none at all, and you just appreciate them for their aesthetic value.

osarusan

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

That Terry Wogan statue is really sh It looks like he is holding a penis ffs.

No it doesn't.

It's actually quite good apart from the weird elongation of his head - if his head was squashed down so that it was more round, it would be very good.

Dyr

Shenshen wrote: »

I always feel that asking what the meaning of the spire is is similar to asking what the meaning of the Eiffel Tower is....or the meaning of the Atomium, or the Brandenburg Gate?

There are lots of function-less structures in many cities across the world that are ambivalent enough to allow pretty much any interpretation you fancy. Or none at all, and you just appreciate them for their aesthetic value.

Brandenburg gate and eiffel towers were both gateways..something that's fairly laden with meaning

Wibbs

Shenshen wrote: »

I always feel that asking what the meaning of the spire is is similar to asking what the meaning of the Eiffel Tower is....or the meaning of the Atomium, or the Brandenburg Gate?

Eh.. all of those examples you gave have broader meanings and quite a few with it. The Brandenburg Gate is steeped in meaning.

osarusan wrote: »

No it doesn't.

It's actually quite good apart from the weird elongation of his head - if his head was squashed down so that it was more round, it would be very good.

Quite good? It looks like a kiddies art project gone wrong. And made of chocolate. If Terry was an icon of Easter, he'd look like that out of the wrapper. That's truly appalling to my eyes. :eek:

osarusan

Wibbs wrote: »

Quite good? It looks like a kiddies art project gone wrong. And made of chocolate. If Terry was an icon of Easter, he'd look like that out of the wrapper. That's truly appalling to my eyes. :eek:

Fair enough, we'll have to just disagree.

For me, as bronze statues go, it's grand apart from the head.

Dyr

osarusan wrote: »

For me, as bronze statues go, it's grand apart from the head.

The head bit tends to be very important for statues :P

osarusan

Bambi wrote: »

The head bit tends to be very important for statues :P

Yes, that is what I said too.

I can understand a sculptor not wanting to make an exact likeness and instead wanting to emphasise/embellish some aspects of the person (they may even feel some artistic obligation to do so), but when it doesn't really look like them any more, it's probably gone too far.

jameshayes

No one mention the carvings over in St Annes Park Dublin? Amazing imo

Wibbs

I genuinely can't see how this could be viewed as anything less than appalling. I truly can't.

That someone describes as an artist got paid for this beggars belief.

Now don't shoot me down in flames folks, but I would say Irish culture is not particularly visually attuned. Oral and aurally tuned, hell yes, right up at the top, but visually, not nearly so much. And hasn't been since the medieval. The general view of art and design isn't sophisticated and I don't mean that in a pretentious pseud way("simple" art and design is often the hardest to pull off). I mean that our eye isn't particularly well tuned.

Antar Bolaeisk

This yoke is fairly useless, a bronzed tree stuck on the side of a road. It only cost a measly €63,000.
I think someone might have trimmed it's branches at one point as well.

https://goo.gl/maps/UPxem7YMCpR2
http://donegalpublicart.ie/dpa_betweenknown.html

Wibbs

TBH I like that Tree. Though for me it would be better in a very built area. In that context it could just be a tree.

Tim76

Wibbs wrote: »

I genuinely can't see how this could be viewed as anything less than appalling. I truly can't.

That someone describes as an artist got paid for this beggars belief.

Now don't shoot me down in flames folks, but I would say Irish culture is not particularly visually attuned. Oral and aurally tuned, hell yes, right up at the top, but visually, not nearly so much. And hasn't been since the medieval. The general view of art and design isn't sophisticated and I don't mean that in a pretentious pseud way("simple" art and design is often the hardest to pull off). I mean that our eye isn't particularly well tuned.

The Irish had no problem sculpting proper statues until recently. There are plenty of them from the 18th/19th centuries littered around the major cities to attest to that.

The "sculptor" in this case needs to go back and study his 1st year art college notes. He seems to have absolutely no concept of the proportions of the human body.

I would love to hear his reasoning behind this abomination.

Shenshen

Bambi wrote: »

Brandenburg gate and eiffel towers were both gateways..something that's fairly laden with meaning

Leading from one street to... exactly the same street. Tons of meaning, definitely

I prefer the idea of a pillar, or a column. Something drawing back to Egyptian obelisks, and Roman triumphal columns, or even to Celtic standing stones, but of course with much more modern aspects, to the idea of empty gateways.

But then that's what art is, two people looking at the same thing and seeing something completely different.

Shenshen

Wibbs wrote: »

Eh.. all of those examples you gave have broader meanings and quite a few with it. The Brandenburg Gate is steeped in meaning.

I'm not sure you're not confusing history with art here - 300 years down the line, the spire might well be steeped in that much meaning as well, or possibly more.