TAKE IT DOWN
By Isobel King
As we know, there has been a recent spate of tearing down statues – but what about sculpture? Our fair isle is peppered with sculptures, some wondrous, some not so much, and some downright eyesores.
One such blemish is the new Bicameral – an evil-looking, twisted tree sculpture that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the set of The Lord Of The Rings as Frodo and Sam made their painful journey through Mordor. This fierce, blackened aluminium structure looms eight metres high, its pincer-like branches reaching out like drawn claws.
The fake tree stands in the new Chelsea Barracks development just off the Pimlico Road, near Sloane Square, London. Inspired by the work of Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind ,itis hysterically and preposterously described as “an Arcadian symbol for reason, humanity, rationalism, progress.” The list goes on. How it could represent anything other than a barren wasteland, though, is completely beyond me.
I would love to see this postapocalyptic monstrosity brought down and a beautiful, noble and natural oak or yew planted in its place. Still, it does have one redeeming quality – it serves as a daily reminder of what will happen if we don’t look after our beautiful country, or stop developers with more money than sense having free rein in the public art arena.
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