Sydney’s best public art

To mark Art Month in Sydney (March 1-20), here are some of our favourite public artworks

PUBLIC ART – in any city – is a notoriously fraught business. No matter how hard you try to make everyone happy, every work will have its detractors. Notable spats in Sydney’s public art history include the time residents threatened to dismantle Ken Unsworth’s ‘poo on sticks’ sculpture in Darlinghurst (it still stands); the time NSW parliamentarian Helen ShamHo said Lin Li’s ‘Golden Water Mouth’ sculpture in Chinatown “looks like a penis”; and the time Oz editor Richard Neville ran a cover photo of himself and two others peeing into Tom Bass’s P&O Wall Fountain. That said, who could possibly argue for a city without public art? It’s good for the eyes, good for the soul, and also good for business, which has been part of the drive in Sydney over the last decade to revitalise laneways and commercial precincts with commissions from contemporary artists, architects and designers.