Saturday 10 March 2012

Unusual fountain/sculpture of the week

The last couple of weeks I've been working long hours doing a particularly boring job in Middlesbrough. Usually, the work means that I don't have time to see anything, but I spotted this interesting sculpture in the Town Centre.

The sculpture, positioned outside a court, depicts 'Justice' holding up two very unhappy looking children. Obviously a wry dig at the two sides in a court case!
Just look at those faces!

There wasn't any information on the sculpture, but a quick search of the Web revealed that it was made by Graham Ibbeson. His website is well worth a visit, and I really like his mixture of comic and quite poignant sculptures. There are times to be serious and there are times to just have a laugh, and I think Graham's sculptures cover both these situations well.
One I didn't know of, but will look for next time I'm there, is The Fair Maid of Perth.


I really like sculptures that aren't on a plinth, but are at street level so you can interact with them. How many visitors get their photo taken sitting next to her?
Graham has also sculpted figures from comedy including Laurel and Hardy, Benny Hill, Les Dawson, and most famously, Eric Morecambe






You've got to admit, this is much better than some sculpture of some long forgotten Victorian politician or industrialist that usually populates our town centres. So much better that it was unveiled by The Queen.
It's really strange how me seeing an unusual sculpture in passing has led me to a whole array of works that I'm going to try and go and see, but that's the power of the Web.

1 comment:

  1. These statues are fab! I love the Eric Morecambe one - how he made us laugh as young folk.

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