There is a flurry of commentary about placing a statue next to the M6 to symbolise Preston. One is a semi-buried soldier denoting the historic battles that took place in Preston and the other is a statue symbolising a military aircraft to relate to one element of the local industry.
While supporting art forms both modern and traditional, it seems both of these are unimaginative ideas on a major scale. It joins the race to create ‘angels of the north’ all over the country with a horse being built at Ebbsfleet which seems fairly pointless and unimaginative. The Angel of the North was fairly controversial when it opened but now represents something unusual and dramatic, something no corporate design company could create.
It’s also seen as an opportunity to make a name for individuals and corporate designers.
Is a large public artwork the answer or would this amount spent on the Harris make it a bigger attraction. Why shouldn’t the Harris celebrate local business and build up to the Guild. Preston is known for cotton, trams, buses in Leyland, planes and now call centres.
It isn’t clear where the funding for implementing these ideas comes from. The council is offering money to the Football Museum and maybe, with that almost certainly going to Manchester, then there is some spare. Although I’d imagine that to make a good job of such a feature would cost at least £3m. There are examples of art being bought apparently expensively such as Bolton Museum buying the imitation sculpture, Preston buying Pauline in the Yellow Dress during the war, and Trinity Hospice spending £50k on 7 commissioned artworks this year. So money for art is available, sometimes when you don’t expect it.
Then you might say who judges what should be built. An example is Blackpool Promenade where a number of large public art pieces have been built that many people seriously dislike. Yet over time they are becoming established features and wearing well with time. So there is a chance that the only art worth getting is that most disliked at the time. In general, and it may sound pompous, it could be that the public shouldn’t be trusted to judge on what makes good art, otherwise the shops wouldn’t be full of kitsch and more people might go into PAD. So I’d support a reputable artist deciding. Keep the corporates and local representatives well away or a paper aeroplane with no lasting appeal will result.