Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth - Page 6

Angua · 15-09-2005, 20:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

so why doesn't the statue have clothes on if it doesn't represent sex, its naked and pregnant so it represents the female sex.

One of the major points of this statue would be completely lost were she to be covered by clothes.

Yes it is shocking and thought provoking and obviously makes some people very uncomfortable.

For me it is the fact that she makes some people uncomfortable tells me they have some prejudices that need to be dealt with. Whether it is simply having a problem with nakedness or pregnancy or more worryingly a need to "hide" disabilities.

As someone once jokingly put it "I have yet to meet anyone who hasn't got a body". TBH she has a far better body than I do and more courage than I will ever have, but I wander around the house naked in front of my children because I don't have any hangups and I never want them to feel selfconcious about their bodies. My parents were the same, yet my grandmother managed to put more clothes on to go to bed than she wore during the day!

nffc · 15-09-2005, 20:07

hmm.

Personally I think the fourth plinth should be left empty. We have statues of legends from history in there, history is always being added to, something great will always happen in the future.

Serve as a reminder that there's still a long way to go- incompleteness with a message, life is incomplete... so why should there be anything on there... leave it empty for symbolism.

Martin · 15-09-2005, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

its not just the statue its society in general and the lack of morals and common decency i object to.
and a naked statue in trafalgar square is not going to help.

A naked statue is going to make no difference whatsoever to anyones morals, no matter were the statue is!!

Jules · 15-09-2005, 20:08

We are hoping to go down to London later this year and I will make a point of going to Trafalgar Square to see what I think of it.

Oh and yes I will be taking my 14 year old son with me and will not be embarrassed in the slightest, does that make me a bad mother?

**Maggy** · 15-09-2005, 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramrod

Woah there! I'm not saying she cannot be represented in art! I just think that Trafalguar square isn't the place for a statement like that.....

If not Trafalgar Square where?Shut away in some obscure corner in a museum/gallery I suppose.

We need to use our grand spaces to make statements about our lives and how we live them.Statues should be out in the open..that way they are better appreciated.

15-09-2005, 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin

Well good luck with that!

people laugh at me with my attitude but every day i look on this forum and i see time after time things like,my grans been beaten up or my house has been broken into,or my life is being made a misery by the local yobs or peadophile kills again etc etc.
what i'm trying to say is the people complain but nobody cares because there is no moral or common decency anymore.
and putting a statue of a naked female in trafalgar square does nothing to improve the morals or decency in this country it just lowers them further.

**Maggy** · 15-09-2005, 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin

A naked statue is going to make no difference whatsoever to anyones morals, no matter were the statue is!!

Exactly!

Of course if she was in Playboy centerfold pose it might be different.

15-09-2005, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

If not Trafalgar Square where?Shut away in some obscure corner in a museum/gallery I suppose.

We need to use our grand spaces to make statements about our lives and how we live them.Statues should be out in the open..that way they are better appreciated.

why not do a statue of some old women being beaten up by a yob then, thats making a statement about our lives and it happens more frequently than some woman with no arms having a kid.

**Maggy** · 15-09-2005, 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

people laugh at me with my attitude but every day i look on this forum and i see time after time things like,my grans been beaten up or my house has been broken into,or my life is being made a misery by the local yobs or peadophile kills again etc etc.
what i'm trying to say is the people complain but nobody cares because there is no moral or common decency anymore.
and putting a statue of a naked female in trafalgar square does nothing to improve the morals or decency in this country it just lowers them further.

Now we are getting away from the point.Naked statues have never made people into thieves or muggers,it their circumstances that do that.I think that looking at naked statues or grand master's depictions of nakedness have not depraved me in any way.They have uplifted me to see how beautiful the human body truly is and how fantastic the Grand Masters/Mistresses are at depicting it.

Roy MM · 15-09-2005, 20:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy 1

some woman with no arms

Thought you said it was not about disabilities.

15-09-2005, 20:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

....putting a statue of a naked female in trafalgar square does nothing to improve the morals or decency in this country it just lowers them further.

The history of art is littered with nudes. At what point did they start denigrating public morality?

But I repeat there is nothing in any way sexual about this imagery. It's a nude representation, there is none of the meat and two veg, coy posing etc which marks out eroticism or pornography.

**Maggy** · 15-09-2005, 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

why not do a statue of some old women being beaten up by a yob then, thats making a statement about our lives and it happens more frequently than some woman with no arms having a kid.

Agreed! You see unlike you I have no qualms about art being used to depict ALL that needs to be represented in our lives.Art is a means by which an artist expresses their feelings about EVERYTHING that occurs in life.A picture/statue says a thousand words.

15-09-2005, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin

A naked statue is going to make no difference whatsoever to anyones morals, no matter were the statue is!!

you say not.
but if the people of london stood up and said they didn't want nudity on the streets of london it would be a start.
and a start as to be made somewhere.

15-09-2005, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

why not do a statue of some old women being beaten up by a yob then, thats making a statement about our lives and it happens more frequently than some woman with no arms having a kid.

Of course art does represent the horrors of war, deprivation, degradation etc. This particular piece does not. To me it's celebratory. But all the country's going down the pan stuff is unlikely to inspire artists because, well, it isn't IMO. Bigger artistic fish to fry.
__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy 1

you say not.
but if the people of london stood up and said they didn't want nudity on the streets of london it would be a start.
and a start as to be made somewhere.

Soho?

makikomi · 15-09-2005, 20:24

Personally, I think pretty much all of the pieces of "art" which have been displayed have been crap. I just wish that people would decide for once and for all who the fourth plinth should be used for, and put a statue there.

Look at the previous occupants of the fourth plinth. "Homo Ecco" was just a statue of a bloke - completely unremarkable. "Regardless of history" looked like a dead tarred tree which had been dug up and dumped there. "Monument" was just a mirror image of the base in clear plastic - so boring. And this "Alison Lapper preganant" bores me too. As for the next bit of work... coloured scaffolding made out of meccano by a ten year old.

If people want to see artwork, they can go to one of the many museums in the capital. Much of the "art" I've seen by modern artists is dull, insipid crud that pseudo-intellectuals adore because it "challenges them"... I've seen more challenging work done by my Jack Russell cross in the back garden. So much of it just looks like the artist is taking the wee-wee and cobbled it together the morning after an all-night pub crawl, just minutes before the exhibition.

The other three plinths are occupied by statues of people who made significant contribution to Britain's history. Why not get a statue of someone important to put on the fourth plinth. Put it to a national vote, stick the statue there and let's move on to sort out some of the more important issues that face us these days.