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Is now really the best time to be spending that amount of money on art?
Depends really. Art has the ability to bring in people 100′s, 1000′s of miles away so it could help the local economy.. If they rake in 10 times as much as they’ve paid for it then yes it was worth spending if it helps the local community.
I seriously don’t think people are going to travel to view a diamantine pachyderm.
There are far more worthy causes both within and outside the gay community.
Actually I would have thought art lovers the world over would want to see it, so in effect it would generate more money for the local economy and local causes.
Hm – depends on your definition of ‘art lover’, I think!
You seriously can’t consider this worthy of the interest of an art lover? It’s got about as much depth as those bloody lamb banana things that were dotted around Liverpool during the Capital of Culture year. Its a total one liner and I think the 10k (which is very cheap for public art) is reflected in the finished piece. Its less LGBT community and more My Big Fat Gypsy Public Art Work.
I guess people will visit and judge for themselves. One persons art is another persons trash and vice versa.
Investing in the gay village will bring a big boost the Birmingham’s businesses (especially the gay ones). This is not a waste of money but a wise investment. Birmingham is a big city and should have a vibrant, functioning gay village. This will help to create the vibe that is needed to make it work.
Do we really need another gettho for people to come and stare at us?
While I am all for creating something to mark the entry of the gay village, I can’t help feel that something less expensive would have been more approrpriate and I honestly think that the rhino looks a bit tacky!
Yeah, right. Keep it cheap for us. We’re not worth it.
Pause, deep breath, head back, forth and lets wait for the bigoted Daily Mail types to comment on how they’re spending money on ‘them Gays’. You know it’s coming, somewhere.
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It’s a lot of money, can Birmingham really afford it? when trying to convince people of cuts in their boroughs? No. Would have prefer business to help rather than councils.
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Having said Art is important and it does reflect on an area and can help the local economy so two side to this.
I agree with Dromio. In the scheme of things, £10k isn’t a lot of money and this sort of investment could do a lot to bring new visitors to Birmingham. Of course, some people will be up in arms about this since to them it’s never good to spend money on ‘the gays’, but I do hope that the business community in Birmingham backs them up: This is a valuable investment for business facing tough times.
I agree. I also suspect it’s because it’s in Birmingham, and it’s politically correct to mock, knock and put down the West Midlands, sadly.
Tacky piece of cr@p. On the plus side I have never had to pay for a glittery horn.
I’m sure you already have one.
It’s glittery, vulgar, in-your-face, tasteless and funny. I like it. I’d go and see it next time I’m in Birmingham.
Ten grand isn’t too much to pay for it (also, isn’t a portion of that coming from Birmingham’s under-spends on other LGBT projects, so once you take the double accounting out off the equation, the council is using money it hasn’t spent elsewhere rather than finding an extra amount of money).
Anyway, it’s fabulous and more power to all concerned.
Good grief – after four years the best they could come up with is a rhinestone rhino?!
If this art persuades just 100 people to go to Birmingham, it could easily raise more than £10,000 for the local economy. So shut up Tax Payers Alliance, you don’t represent me
I think we should have a whip-around and get 10k together so I can cover Lucio in glitter. When I say glitter I actually mean something entirely different!…*drools*.
Ooo, titter titter.
I’m older than dirt and a Gay American, and I have never heard, seen or read anything about a rhino being a symbol of any kind. I don’t know of any such icons, here, in the US.
For a better idea, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boystown,_Chicago . In 1998, Chicago erected [giggle] these pillars seen in the photo. Having several such icons lining the Gay district, a.k.a. “Boystown”, does a much better job of legitimizing the existence and permanence of Gays within the community than a single statue that no one has a clue what it symbolizes.
Now, if you want a rhino in front of the US Embassy to symbolize Americans (bloated, irritable, belligerent, poking their nose into everything) with the rhinestones symbolizing the US’s obsession of superficiality over substance, then I would have to agree.
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The city’s reasoning is too far of a stretch. It smells like a local council member’s boyfriend, an sculpture artist, has this rhino sculpture occupying too much space in their back garden, and they need the extra £15000 [who doesn't!].
… to symbolize Americans (bloated, irritable, belligerent, poking their nose into everything) with the rhinestones symbolizing the US’s obsession of superficiality over substance, then I would have to agree.
Heh.
They may as well put up a golden calf for the fundies to complain about.
Art is paid for through public funds all the time – 10K is a great bargain for art this size these days – why all the fuss – Government pays for religions icon statues all the time.
Size and quality are not the same. ;) And “art”? Something that looks like a piece of (the otherwise lovely) Liz Taylor’s jewellery? I think not.
Surely a real artist could have made a decent piece for that amount of £?
Was the first sentence of this article cut-and-pasted from the Daily Mail? Come on Pink News. Apart from (rather common, it’s true) lapses you’re not quite gutterish! Yet.
It’s nothing compared to what we spent on the popes visit, and there aren’t many practising Catholics in the country.
But did “cash-strapped” Birmingham city Council spend much on the Pope’s visit?
I believe cash strapped Britain Inc. did, not to mention cash strapped Scotland. I believe the strappiness of the cash is the issue being pushed, in which case there are way more excessive and more pointless expenditures, to wag a finger at.
Bling bling. I like.
Naturally.
Hmmm… apart from the waste of money, this cliché is a tad patronising, isn’t it?
Do we really want to make Joe Public think that all gays are like Liberace?
Good God. It’s hideous.
Thanks pink news for cutting and pasting a blantantly homophobic piece from the local rag – the evening mail – instead of contacting the people concerned. To put this into context there are several million being spent on public art and public spaces in Birmingham of which this is a very small part, which we as a community have had to fight tooth and nail for a fraction of other areas. The local paper has not criticised other more expensive pieces of public art under development, but then they don’t have anything to do with us gays!
The artist is from Scotland and in no way related to any one in Birmingham city council and this entry was chosen from an open competition after community consultation.
Tacky – maybe – a good and long overdue investment in birminghams gay village – definitely
Oh my thats ugly haha. Now we wil have a new sentance. ” that rhinos blinding me “