Unit 3 Essay

Aims of the essay Public art is art in any media, huge or small, abstract or realistic (or both) and it may be cast, carved, built, assembled or painted. Public art is for all to see and is normally staged in the physical public domain where it can be viewed each day, usually outside and accessible to everyone. The unique association of how it is made, where it is situated and what meaning it has is what distinguishes the public art. It can express community values, enhance the environment or transform a landscape. Its purpose is to reflect and reveal the society and add meaning to the cities around us; aiming to enrich the community by bringing meaning and purpose to the public setting.

Different places have unique policy’s that are used when developers/artists want to commission their work into a public domain. For example Swindon Borough Council’s Public Art Policy was adopted in 1988 to acknowledge the recognition of the role that artists’ can have enhancing and improving the quality of the public domain. It was established to expand opportunities to engage artists in making artworks for Swindon. The policy encourages developers to allocate a percentage of the capital costs of any new building, refurbishment and landscaping scheme towards the production of works of public art.

The policy uses a principle called Percent for Art, which is an internationally used funding mechanism for the commissioning of public art, to integrate the work of artists into the planned development of public space. Swindon Borough Council works in partnership with developers to bring forward high quality art projects. The Public Art officer of the council will offer advice and expertise on the commissioning of public art to further developers applications within the Borough, and, after the determination of the planning applications, advice will be given on the development and management of new projects. The council does not have a policy to work with local artists, but where it is appropriate to employ a local artist and/or support local creative teams this would add to the economic development of the Borough.

An example of art work which was introduced into the public domain is ‘The Great Blondini’s’ statue. The Great Blondini’s statue was created by the late John Clinch who was a very talented sculptor and teacher. He was seen as calm and an often reserved man with an acute sense of humour. His personality was mostly reflected in his sculptures, his own description of his work was “accessible and populist” he was the head of sculpture and principal lecturer from 1970-1987 at Nottingham School of Art, he then retired to concentrate on his own work. A visit to Spain’s figures toy museum in the early 1980s began his huge collection of tin toys, which influenced his creation The Great Blondini’s. He was commissioned to create the statue by the then Thamesdown Council using the last remaining pieces of metal cast from the former Great Western railway works in Swindon.

For many years it stood in Wharf Green, a seating area in the Brunel Centre in Swindon. It was sadly abused with graffiti so was removed in 2005 when the seating area was redeveloped. Artist Tim Carroll renovated the 17 foot high statue featuring two acrobats which was later unveiled in 2009 in its new location, St Marks Recreation Ground, in Gorse Hill The Blondinis performed at circuses in the 1920s, and the statue was designed to symbolise the gathering of people for fairs, festivals and trade.

The Great Blondinis -John Clinch

Close to Swindon is a City called Bristol which is where a well-known artist grew up, Banksy.

Banksy is an English ‘graffiti’ artist who creates street art and subversive epigrams which combine dark humour with graffiti, executed in a stencilling technique. His works feature on street, walls and bridges of cities throughout the world. His work grew out from the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

Banksy hasn’t shared much detail about himself to the public domain, he has always been quite anonymous; however his work is very well known and can sometimes cause uproars. I would class his work as interventions as political statements. Depicting a powerful message.

A mural targeting the issue of government surveillance which Banksy created was unfortunately vandalized; it was a powerful image of three 1950s-Style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box. It appeared overnight in April on a street in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, just a few miles from GCHQ, where the UK’s surveillance network is based. There was money being raised to keep the piece and a millionaire had been in the process of buying the piece but one morning, graffiti covering artwork appeared, leaving locals in a “race against time” to save it. This is worse than vandalism as it appears mindless and ill throughout.

Another piece which was devastatingly vandalized was a very recent piece of Bansky’s, a parody of Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring called the Girl with the Pierced Eardrum. It features a yellow alarm box as the figures iconic piece of jewellery. It appeared on the exterior wall of a recording studio in Hanover Place, within 24 hours after it had appeared it had been splattered with black paint. Tenant Ellie Morgan, Joint owner of the recording studio, said: “One of the bands that were recording came in and said someone had thrown paint on it. When we went out it was still wet and dripping. Banksy had already been back to touch it up once. Hopefully he will come back and touch it up again.”

The girl with the pierced eardrum-Banksy

The Girl with the Pearl Earring- Johannes Vermeer

Vandalism is around us all the time, but there are many different opinions on what is vandalism, some people would strongly agree that graffiti is a form of vandalism but some would say it is a work of art shown in the public domain. The word Vandal was first heard of during the 1st French Revolution, the revolutionary movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799, when an equestrian statue of Henry IV was destroyed due to its link to King Louis XVI and its messages of power. In similarity the Notre Dame Cathedral was vandalized for the same reasons, in 1793 a Paris mob gathered in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and cried for the heads of more kings. The 28 limestone figures above the portals actually represented the kings of Judea and Israel, but the mob, thinking they represented French monarchs, cheered as fellow citizens tied rope around the statues’ necks, pulled them down and guillotined them in Cathedral Square. These statues were replaced in the early 19th century, but the originals-dating back to the year 1220disappeared.

The Original Heads of the Kings of Judah

When referring back to the French Revolution, when the word ‘Vandal’ was first heard of, it all started when there was a large gap between the wealthy and the poor. For centuries the quality of life in Europe had been determined by the status that one held. This status could not be obtained, but was determined by the family which someone was born. Therefore if you were born into a poor family, you would suffer from poverty and it was impossible to rise above this state. On other terms the wealthy enjoyed a life of ease, they pursued the pleasures of European society, whilst 97% of Europe’s people were struggling to survive.

Those at the bottom saw the wealthy grow increasingly richer which then in 1776 caused something to happen. A group of people in poverty, at the bottom of society, rebelled against those who were classed as ‘richer’ people. The remarkable thing at the time was

that they won. The British Colonies in America declared independence and then enforced it by beating back the most powerful military on the planet. This was a huge shock throughout Europe and it gave hope to those in poverty who wanted to see the powerful aristocracies of Europe fall. The separation between the wealthy and poor was highest in France. The French Aristocracy were among the richest individuals in all of Europe, they had power that was unchecked by a parliament as in Great Britain. The society of France was divided into three separate castes known as estates, the people who destroyed the statue didn’t do this to just ‘vandalize’ it; it was destroyed on purpose, for a reason. The French people didn’t like the fact that the statue was linked to King Louis XVI; it was created to state his power which after the revolution didn’t want to be celebrated. These people were called ‘vandals,’ but were clever about the way they vandalized; they had a reason too, unlike graffiti which has no point in being done. Graffiti is an offence, destroying and vandalizing a building/place for no particular reason. Going back to the artist Banksy, he is like those who destroyed the Louis XVI statue; he is clever in the way he creates graffiti art. His art has a story and purpose and isn’t just pointless. Relating back to his mural of the three 1950’s style agents, this graffiti has a hidden message, in this case a political statement, which is the purpose of the piece being created. I think that Banksy’s work is motifs for the public to question and raise awareness of what’s going on around us. As opposed to art given to the Public Domain.

Banksy is trying to show us the evils of our world through the medium of art in the public realm. Even though Banksy’s work isn’t given to the public by Councils and Cooperation’s as previously stated, I consider his work Public Art because it is art that is given to us by an inspirational artist out of spite and mind which is inspiring and interesting to all. Most of Banksy’s work is only planned by him himself; he decides what he wants to do and where he wants to do it next. Not knowing what he is going to bring into the Public realm next is more exciting than a piece of Public art that is planned. His work is unique surprises to the streets and buildings of our surroundings cities and towns.

King Louis XVI – Antoine-Francois Callet