New alternatives to the old statues
The Big Yin was “flabbergasted” at Glasgow’s 75th birthday present to him – three 50-foot murals. After three portraits of Billy were created in 2017 by Jack Vettriano, John Byrne and Rachel Maclean, they were turned into murals by street artists Rogue-one and Art Pistol to become part of the city’s official mural trail.
THE GATE OF ASSUMPTION
This installation on the gates of Festival Park, Cessnock provoked great anger. The pair of legs in red high heels was created by artist Rakel McMahon as part of a collection by Govanbased Ltd Ink Corporation. After a public outcry which saw the Council removing the offending artwork, Rakel clarified the intention of her work was to draw attention to women’s safety after an 18-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the park in February this year.
LEMMINGS
Dundee is a world centre for gaming, so it’s only proper that its status was celebrated with a nod to the post jute, jam and journalism age. Built in 2013, Lemmings is a bronze statue of three of
QUIRKY Lemmings in
Dundee, and Rob Mullhollans’s Evolve the characters from the 90s video game scrambling up a stone pillar in the city’s Perth Road, near the former DMA Design office where they were created.
EVOLVE
Rob Mulholland’s much-loved “mirror man” statue (the official title is Still) has yet to be restored to the waters of
Loch Earn. But in Rutherglen his sixmetre high sculpture Evolve impressively marks the entrance to Cuningar Woodland Park. Constructed out of more than
600 pieces of highgrade stainless steel welded together, it’s an impressive marker for the redevelopment of what was once a landfill site.