Post by dreamy on Nov 17, 2005 22:40:06 GMT 10
Outrage after Scots sculptures snubbed
WILLIAM LYONS
ARTS CORRESPONDENT wlyons@scotlandonsunday.com
LEADING figures in Scotland's arts world have expressed astonishment after works from north of the Border were effectively barred from a contest to find Britain's best sculpture - because it was claimed they were not good enough.
The snub means no sculpture in Scotland will be considered for the title, including such popular and well-known pieces as Paolozzi's Wealth Of Nations in Edinburgh, Kenny Hunter's Citizen Fireman in Glasgow and the various items of "people's art" along the M8.
Instead,
Sky Television's Artsworld channel, which is behind the contest, will consider only sculptures in England for the title, including controversial pieces such as Liz Leyh's often-derided Concrete Cows in Milton Keynes.
The programme makers told Scotland on Sunday that when they looked for the nation's 100 best public sculptures they decided that, compared with England, Scotland had failed to invest in public sculpture, especially in the 20th century.
The humiliating snub has sparked outrage in Scotland, with experts north of the Border accusing Artsworld of "geographical snobbery" and "cultural ignorance".
They insist there is a plethora of world-class modern sculpture in Scotland, from Charles Jencks' award-winning Landform at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art to Jake Harvey's Hugh MacDiarmid Memorial at Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway.
John Wyver, producer of Sculpture 100, said: "We started off with the brief 'sculpture in Britain' and in fact we ended up making it about sculpture in England.
"There is not as strong a tradition of public sculpture, certainly in the 20th century, in Scotland as there is in England. There are some really interesting and distinguished things but I don't think there has been the same commitment and the same engagement.
"There is a huge mid 20th-century gap in the story of sculpture in Scotland. There are not the equivalents of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, who put a lot of public sculpture into England during the post-war world."
He added: "In England there was a real commitment, partly from the Arts Council but also from the local councils. There was not that same post-war commitment in Scotland. I couldn't find enough in Scotland to really make it work. I didn't feel there was a real spread of work."
The programme will include well-known works such as Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North in Gateshead and Tracey Emin's The Roman Standard in Liverpool.
But famous Scottish works such as those by Paolozzi, Hunter, Harvey and Dalziel and Scullion's The Horn on the M8 have all been excluded.
The decision has caused consternation outside Scotland. Tom Eccles, former director of the Public Art Fund in New York, said: "It really portrays a geographic ignorance. In the last 15 years Scotland has been a leading light in the field of public art and public sculpture. This is down to the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Office.
"To my knowledge, there has been a groundswell of interesting commissioning of new artists - equally on a par to anything I have seen in London, the Midlands and in the north of England."
Scotland on Sunday art critic Iain Gale described the snub as an appalling but predictable judgment from a "Londoncentric" art world.
He said: "It is outrageous that someone can, in these days when Scotland's arts profile has never been higher, say that there is not a tradition of sculpture. It is appalling.
"It is gobsmacking and unfortunately all too predictable of a Londoncentric art world. There has been an explosion of public art in Scotland in the last 50 years. It is just ignorance. Where was he looking? It is a joke. Go into any major city in Scotland and you will find at least two major works of public art."
He added: "Per capita there are probably more important public sculptures than in England. It is a ludicrous thing to say, extremely dismissive and absolutely outrageous.
"Walk around Edinburgh and you will find 200 public works of art. If there is a problem with there not being enough, it is to do with the number of people up here and the amount of money. It is as simple as that."
Scottish artist Gerald Laing, who worked with Andy Warhol in New York in the 1960s and, perhaps most famously, completed the sculpture of Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh, said: "One doesn't want to whinge, but that is quite ridiculous. They are missing a lot of stuff that they do not know about. There is an awful lot of public sculpture in Scotland now.
"We are far less fashion-conscious than the English are. There are still fragments of the Enlightenment here that there isn't in England, and much more chance of an intellectual debate than there is in England. Our interest is genuine, not just a mixture of fashion and questions of taste."
The programme is due to be broadcast in December.
This article: heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=2233972005
WILLIAM LYONS
ARTS CORRESPONDENT wlyons@scotlandonsunday.com
LEADING figures in Scotland's arts world have expressed astonishment after works from north of the Border were effectively barred from a contest to find Britain's best sculpture - because it was claimed they were not good enough.
The snub means no sculpture in Scotland will be considered for the title, including such popular and well-known pieces as Paolozzi's Wealth Of Nations in Edinburgh, Kenny Hunter's Citizen Fireman in Glasgow and the various items of "people's art" along the M8.
Instead,
Sky Television's Artsworld channel, which is behind the contest, will consider only sculptures in England for the title, including controversial pieces such as Liz Leyh's often-derided Concrete Cows in Milton Keynes.
The programme makers told Scotland on Sunday that when they looked for the nation's 100 best public sculptures they decided that, compared with England, Scotland had failed to invest in public sculpture, especially in the 20th century.
The humiliating snub has sparked outrage in Scotland, with experts north of the Border accusing Artsworld of "geographical snobbery" and "cultural ignorance".
They insist there is a plethora of world-class modern sculpture in Scotland, from Charles Jencks' award-winning Landform at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art to Jake Harvey's Hugh MacDiarmid Memorial at Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway.
John Wyver, producer of Sculpture 100, said: "We started off with the brief 'sculpture in Britain' and in fact we ended up making it about sculpture in England.
"There is not as strong a tradition of public sculpture, certainly in the 20th century, in Scotland as there is in England. There are some really interesting and distinguished things but I don't think there has been the same commitment and the same engagement.
"There is a huge mid 20th-century gap in the story of sculpture in Scotland. There are not the equivalents of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, who put a lot of public sculpture into England during the post-war world."
He added: "In England there was a real commitment, partly from the Arts Council but also from the local councils. There was not that same post-war commitment in Scotland. I couldn't find enough in Scotland to really make it work. I didn't feel there was a real spread of work."
The programme will include well-known works such as Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North in Gateshead and Tracey Emin's The Roman Standard in Liverpool.
But famous Scottish works such as those by Paolozzi, Hunter, Harvey and Dalziel and Scullion's The Horn on the M8 have all been excluded.
The decision has caused consternation outside Scotland. Tom Eccles, former director of the Public Art Fund in New York, said: "It really portrays a geographic ignorance. In the last 15 years Scotland has been a leading light in the field of public art and public sculpture. This is down to the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Office.
"To my knowledge, there has been a groundswell of interesting commissioning of new artists - equally on a par to anything I have seen in London, the Midlands and in the north of England."
Scotland on Sunday art critic Iain Gale described the snub as an appalling but predictable judgment from a "Londoncentric" art world.
He said: "It is outrageous that someone can, in these days when Scotland's arts profile has never been higher, say that there is not a tradition of sculpture. It is appalling.
"It is gobsmacking and unfortunately all too predictable of a Londoncentric art world. There has been an explosion of public art in Scotland in the last 50 years. It is just ignorance. Where was he looking? It is a joke. Go into any major city in Scotland and you will find at least two major works of public art."
He added: "Per capita there are probably more important public sculptures than in England. It is a ludicrous thing to say, extremely dismissive and absolutely outrageous.
"Walk around Edinburgh and you will find 200 public works of art. If there is a problem with there not being enough, it is to do with the number of people up here and the amount of money. It is as simple as that."
Scottish artist Gerald Laing, who worked with Andy Warhol in New York in the 1960s and, perhaps most famously, completed the sculpture of Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh, said: "One doesn't want to whinge, but that is quite ridiculous. They are missing a lot of stuff that they do not know about. There is an awful lot of public sculpture in Scotland now.
"We are far less fashion-conscious than the English are. There are still fragments of the Enlightenment here that there isn't in England, and much more chance of an intellectual debate than there is in England. Our interest is genuine, not just a mixture of fashion and questions of taste."
The programme is due to be broadcast in December.
This article: heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=2233972005
