When cows come home bovine beauty baffles cork

“I THINK it is a cow,” remarked an early morning worker in a high-visibility jacket looking skywards.

“Yeah, but what is it doing up a tree? It’s the maddest looking cow I’ve ever seen,” his colleague replied.

The cow in question had arrived into Cork from France on Friday night. Early Saturday it began its journey from Ringaskiddy into the city, where it was gently eased down from the back of a truck and a large crane used to hoist it, upside down, up a tree.

There it will remain for the next three months at least, and already the sculpture has become a talking point in Cork.

Weighing over six tonnes and made out of stainless steel and bronze, the sculpture is the work of artist John Kelly and its presence in Cork has been facilitated by Cork City Council.

Three of these sculptures are in existence worldwide, one in a private collection and one in Melbourne’s new docklands.

Kelly has lived in Cork for several years (his father came from Mallow), so he says it was a long held ambition to bring his sculpture to Cork.

But, why a cow? And what is it doing up a tree? “During the second World War, a well-known Australian artist called William Dobell was engaged to camouflage grass airfields from Japanese airmen,” explains Kelly.

“He did this by making papier-mâché cows and moved them around airfields. There is a history of floods in Australia and cattle often get caught up trees or like in Brisbane earlier this year when you had cattle on the roofs of house. So this inspired the piece ”

Some city councillors have questioned the wisdom of such a project at a time of contracting budgets. However, city manager Tim Lucey welcomed it and said it would “engage, interest and intrigue the public”.