invaders and obsessions

Bexhill on Sea – the towns folk enjoying their own space . . .

 . . some out on boats – could be just exercising or maybe . . .

. . off patrolling the waters . . .

. . but on the roof terrace of the de la Warr, it looks like the invaders have already landed  . . .

. . .  some of these look-alike Antony Gormley’s seem as though they have stomach cramps . . . .

I rather wish these figures were more beautifully cast and others commented about this too ‘It’s  a shame that the beauty of the sculpted body is lost’  – ‘ these look as though they came off a conveyor belt’. Well, my understanding is that it is the grouping, in the space, that is the point of the installation, but Juan Munoz brought something else to this type of installation. Viewers walking around the figures broke the magic, destroyed the scale and frankly, got in the way . . .

 . . the guide said there were 50 figures but the website says 60 . . .

. . some friends appreciate and enjoy this installation and some do not. To me, it appears divorced from the visitor – looks depressing and machine-made . . . but, now I understand that this installation was originally set for a train station in Austria (some mention of the holocaust) so hidden meanings and concepts . . .

. . retreating back into the building, I looked down the stairwell and found this . . .

 . . then walked outside and saw this . . .

. . and sort of thought that the chairs were equally as good as the figures on the terrace . . but I know nothing except that to me . . .

.  . . this building always delights – has a discreet magnificence . .

 . . moving down to the sea front and Marina Court Avenue there is a terrace of houses with quite intrinsic gardens – they seem like front gardens but are,  in fact, back gardens . . .

 . . some are architectural and coastal in character . . .

. . with the usual bits of beach debris . . . and some are brave with colour combinations, or is it just haphazard – who cares . .

. . this is the last garden going east wards. It looks manicured and ordered and stands out consequently.  There are owls on the roof  here – seems rather a Bexhill thing.  The sense of obsessive control that someone has over this garden gripped me in the same way as the Gormley installation. I was reminded of an article in the May copy of The Garden magazine by Katherine Lambert titled ‘Who has the upper hand?’. Katherine neatly points out the key differences between men and woman gardeners – sensible solidarity versus imaginative creativity – her words not mine I hasten to add! She surmises that men like to impose structure, love the big and the bold – stripes on the lawn, large foliage plants, trees and bright colours. In my experience of dealing with clients, Katherine ticks the box but am I jumping to the conclusion that this garden is ‘male’?  This post will stop at this point and a following will wrap this up and I’ll discuss if there is any connection with issues here and my thoughts on the workshop on Obsessions and Concepts from the May 14th post. I said I’d report back after all! 

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you — Nobody — Too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise — you know!

How dreary — to be — Somebody!
How public — like a Frog —
To tell one’s name — the livelong June —
To an admiring Bog!   Emily Dickinson