The Angel of the North
Discussion
Ok so I might be 20 years late with this thread but since I was not a member of PH in 1994 (I know, newbie) I thought it was worth revisiting.
Is there anything good about that stupid pile of junk? It represents nothing. It was created in a vacuum fillled by vain fools awash with lottery money and bereft of imagination.
I grew up in a village north of Newcastle and drove past this site regularly during its construction. It was a sort of landmark of returning to the north east but it would have been had they put an electricity pylon there. To me it represents the fictional city of Newcastle-Gateshead and its insatiable appetite for public funds to pay for vanity projects.
FWIW my father was a sculptor at one time and my artistic objections come entirely from him as I have very little artistic flare of my own. However his point that this anthropomorphic heap of junk represents nothing that ever existed anywhere is inescapable. Less still does it represent anything that ever really happened in the north east of England.
It appears to have been adopted as a symbol of the fictional country of Thenortheast (roundly rejected in a referendum and created anyway) simply because it's there.
Now every time I drive past thst wonderful gateway to a city (it really is) I am reminded of its economic dependence on public funds and its intellectual dependence on anyone who can flog a heap of junk to Gateshead Council for a better price than Johnny Shepherd will give them as scrap.
It's a symbol of economic, moral and intellectual failure which thoroughly deserves to be weighed in as scrap as the only fitting end to an ill conceived vanity project which never should have seen the light of day.
Is there anything good about that stupid pile of junk? It represents nothing. It was created in a vacuum fillled by vain fools awash with lottery money and bereft of imagination.
I grew up in a village north of Newcastle and drove past this site regularly during its construction. It was a sort of landmark of returning to the north east but it would have been had they put an electricity pylon there. To me it represents the fictional city of Newcastle-Gateshead and its insatiable appetite for public funds to pay for vanity projects.
FWIW my father was a sculptor at one time and my artistic objections come entirely from him as I have very little artistic flare of my own. However his point that this anthropomorphic heap of junk represents nothing that ever existed anywhere is inescapable. Less still does it represent anything that ever really happened in the north east of England.
It appears to have been adopted as a symbol of the fictional country of Thenortheast (roundly rejected in a referendum and created anyway) simply because it's there.
Now every time I drive past thst wonderful gateway to a city (it really is) I am reminded of its economic dependence on public funds and its intellectual dependence on anyone who can flog a heap of junk to Gateshead Council for a better price than Johnny Shepherd will give them as scrap.
It's a symbol of economic, moral and intellectual failure which thoroughly deserves to be weighed in as scrap as the only fitting end to an ill conceived vanity project which never should have seen the light of day.
I like the Angel of The North, but perhaps Tom Maley's 'Robin of Pegswood' sculpture would have been more fitting in that it covers the two main historical industries of the region. If it was scaled up to the size of the Angel, it would have been a spectacular welcome to that part of the North East.
Is this indicative of a thousand years of Northeastern dominance? 
AJS- said:
Ok so I might be 20 years late with this thread but since I was not a member of PH in 1994 (I know, newbie) I thought it was worth revisiting.
Is there anything good about that stupid pile of junk? It represents nothing. It was created in a vacuum fillled by vain fools awash with lottery money and bereft of imagination.
I grew up in a village north of Newcastle and drove past this site regularly during its construction. It was a sort of landmark of returning to the north east but it would have been had they put an electricity pylon there. To me it represents the fictional city of Newcastle-Gateshead and its insatiable appetite for public funds to pay for vanity projects.
FWIW my father was a sculptor at one time and my artistic objections come entirely from him as I have very little artistic flare of my own. However his point that this anthropomorphic heap of junk represents nothing that ever existed anywhere is inescapable. Less still does it represent anything that ever really happened in the north east of England.
It appears to have been adopted as a symbol of the fictional country of Thenortheast (roundly rejected in a referendum and created anyway) simply because it's there.
Now every time I drive past thst wonderful gateway to a city (it really is) I am reminded of its economic dependence on public funds and its intellectual dependence on anyone who can flog a heap of junk to Gateshead Council for a better price than Johnny Shepherd will give them as scrap.
It's a symbol of economic, moral and intellectual failure which thoroughly deserves to be weighed in as scrap as the only fitting end to an ill conceived vanity project which never should have seen the light of day.
Bit of a naive perspective.Is there anything good about that stupid pile of junk? It represents nothing. It was created in a vacuum fillled by vain fools awash with lottery money and bereft of imagination.
I grew up in a village north of Newcastle and drove past this site regularly during its construction. It was a sort of landmark of returning to the north east but it would have been had they put an electricity pylon there. To me it represents the fictional city of Newcastle-Gateshead and its insatiable appetite for public funds to pay for vanity projects.
FWIW my father was a sculptor at one time and my artistic objections come entirely from him as I have very little artistic flare of my own. However his point that this anthropomorphic heap of junk represents nothing that ever existed anywhere is inescapable. Less still does it represent anything that ever really happened in the north east of England.
It appears to have been adopted as a symbol of the fictional country of Thenortheast (roundly rejected in a referendum and created anyway) simply because it's there.
Now every time I drive past thst wonderful gateway to a city (it really is) I am reminded of its economic dependence on public funds and its intellectual dependence on anyone who can flog a heap of junk to Gateshead Council for a better price than Johnny Shepherd will give them as scrap.
It's a symbol of economic, moral and intellectual failure which thoroughly deserves to be weighed in as scrap as the only fitting end to an ill conceived vanity project which never should have seen the light of day.
Police State said:
Tom Maley's 'Robin of Pegswood' sculpture would have been more fitting in that it covers the two main historical industries of the region. If it was scaled up to the size of the Angel, it would have been a spectacular welcome to that part of the North East.
I drive past that every day on the way to work.AJS- said:
FWIW my father was a sculptor at one time and my artistic objections come entirely from him as I have very little artistic flare of my own. However his point that this anthropomorphic heap of junk represents nothing that ever existed anywhere is inescapable.
Does art have to represent something that really existed? I think that 99% of the art world would disagree with that view.That's the problem with public art, everybody becomes a critic...
See it on my daily commute. It provokes an immense feeling of indifference. On a side note, I once convinced a US colleague who was visiting that when the lights came around it, that was curfew time and any person found outside after the lights were turned on, would be arrested and locked up. He's a pretty naive person in general 
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