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Crazy sculpture designs and wacky architecture splattered all over the previously beautiful British landscape. Who do these people think they are? If these poncy artists and designers need a creative outlet why don't they keep it where it belongs, in a gallery, museum or better still in their heads?
We've got two very striking problems in this country. A lack of affordable housing (yes, house prices are coming down again - but the price of everything else is going up), and an increasingly decimated landscape and country side - partly due to houses sprouting up and partly due to sprawling industrial estates and shopping centres. Why on earth do we need fanciful icons, landmarks and sculptures supposedly designed to please the eye dotted around the country? It just doesn't make sense. Couldn't the space be better used for something constructive? How about a nice park for the kids to play in perhaps?
Take for example this idea of a huge white horse 33 times normal sized plonked in a field in Kent, who on earth is in favour of that? Fair play, it's really none of my business because I'm fortunate enough not to live there but I can't imagine many people going for an idea like that. We've kind of got used to The Angel of the North and the likes, but this idea is so far fetched it's just wrong.
These so-called artists and designers really aren't living in the real world with real problems. They don't live in a tiny house, bring in a pathetic salary and basically struggle through each month. Is a flipping great horse going to make anyone happier? I don't think so. Maybe a few nice parks for the kids to play in might make a difference though. For goodness sake, design something useful and practical!
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Err.. hello? Two million pounds for a flipping great white horse in the middle of a field in Kent. Has everybody gone mad or something? £2M could build a lot of accommodation for people that really need it. £2M could help feed people who aren't eating as well as they should (yes, people are malnourished in the UK too!). £2M could do a lot for the NHS too (as long as you take out the clueless managers - that's another gripe!). £2M could be invested instead into projects to get teenagers off the streets and into the workforce. The list of useful things to do with £2M is pretty endless. Exactly who is going to benefit from a big white horse?
But nine of its 180 steel spikes have since been removed after one fell off." - BBC News
Well, what can I say except one less monstrosity in the world!
Whilst I agree there are many cases of appalling 'public art' - a good example being a great deal of the sculpture trail in the Chilterns, absolute rubbish - I take exception to this part of your argument. I'm a designer in a tiny flat at the mercy of a pathetic salary, struggling every month! We do exist, you know - some of us even have morals and standards. Unlike the Damien Hirsts, Sam Taylor Woods, Jay Joplings and other talentless scum of the (celebrity) art world.
This is what they are, thieves. The precious space they stole could've been used for a few litter bins which is far more pleasing to the eye than their disfigured, failed, half-baked effort.
Art my arze!
Thats where the money could definitely go! Most parks are just a derelict area where teenagers go to drink cider.
Those damned because of globalisation, the credit crunch, the loss of their livelihoods because of the mismanagement of the economy by this present government. Damned they were, damned they are and damned they will be.
I fully support publicly funding culture, but instead of giving these miserable "artists" an income, this money should go into making modern buildings more pleasant to look at, instead of these breezeblock monstrosities that are popping up everywhere, especially in our city centres.
Mike Pratt