Madam, - I went recently to see the exhibition Sculpture in Context in the Botanic Gardens, Dublin - and what a good experience it was: exciting, informative, visually delightful, witty and in the main well executed. A wonderful exhibition of talent by our native sculptors. I have not seen anything like it in Ireland before.
I live in the Borough of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, where the sculpture on public display is a disgrace to the intelligence of the citizens and to the artists who have executed the pieces.
Tatty, broken-down lumps of metal and stone litter the parks and open spaces of our town, covered in graffiti, unsuitably placed and conveying no message to the people wholook at them, other than that they block the view and are uncomfortable to sit on. We in the borough are so used to these pieces of art being inflicted on us that the strongest emotion they arise is apathy.
The latest, which arrived last spring, was a 20-foot sculpture entitled variously Gateway or Bookend. It is also known locally as "Two fingers to the council". It is plonked in front of the Pavilion Centre as a gift from the developers of the centre to the people of Dun Laoghaire. It is a poor example of the work of the respected sculptor who made it. His work, seen in the correct setting, is very dramatic. Squeezed on to a small plaza it is completely out of context.
Sculpture is the most public form of art and, as such, has a greater responsibility than other disciplines. It must enhance the area in which it is placed and suit the circumstances it will live in.
I am asking Dun Laoghaire County Council and its arts officer to remove all the sculpture that has blighted the town for so long and put in place a vetting committee that will ensure that we are never again given an inappropriate piece of art that we will be forced to look at for years to come. I am asking the developers who inflicted it on us to remove Gateway to a suitable position. And for God's sake don't give us another gift.
Dun Laoghaire is a gem of a town and the home of many respected artists. Surely between us all we can acquire suitable pieces of art that will give pleasure to all our citizens for years to come. - Yours, etc.,
LINDA UHLEMANN, Eaton Place, Monkstown, Do Dublin.