See the Light from the M8 as new statue unveiled
IT was raised into place under cover of darkness. But now Glasgow’s newest statue is set to shine brightly over the city – two decades after the original was removed amid safety fears.
The sculpture, named Light And Life, is back in place on top of the former Co-operative Wholesale Society headquarters on Morrison Street.
The statue of a woman, gilded in 23-carat gold leaf and made by artist Kenny Mackay, is now clearly visible to motorists on the M8 from the adjacent Kingston Bridge.
Bill Ritchie, a director of Atelier Ten design consultants and engineers, commissioned the statue as a tribute to his grandmother, Ruby.
He said: “It was a personal thing for me.
“My grandmother had always spoken about the statue and when it came down 20 years ago I was really sorry to see her go.
“I have only heard this anecdotally but I’ve been told the original statue was concrete and had to be moved on grounds of safety – but it left the building lacking.
“There are very few images of the original, but Kenny had done a lot of research to make the statue as true to the original as possible.”
The new statue, Light And Life, is made from fibre glass and covered in gold. It is based closely on a similar statue by the sculpture James Alexander Ewing that stands at Glasgow City Chambers.
The original Light And Life was removed in 1994 when it crumbled due to environmental damage.
But the sculpture had also suffered a near miss in 1911 when it was almost destroyed in a fire that took over the building’s dome and melted the statue’s steel support base.