When I was a kid I clearly remember visiting the city and seeing a really unusual sculpture outside of a bank in St Georges Tce (it was an ANZ branch). For some reason this piece of art struck a cord with me and I always looked for it if we were in the city. Then as time went by it disappeared from the terrace, never to be seen by me again... until a couple of weeks ago!
I was visiting the Architecture department at the Curtin University campus to watch some student presentations, at lunch we headed to the food court and as we exited the building a piece of my childhood was standing right there in front of me, that very sculpture that had fascinated me as a kid was now on the university campus. I then circled it enough times to make those with me a bit confused and uncomfortable, it was like seeing an old friend for the first time in years
Turns out it has a name, Cyclops, and it was created by the well known (in Australia) artist Howard Taylor. It also wasn't all that loved by all of the locals when it first appeared back in 1965...
A Teapot? Pretty Or Hideous?
“That’s a teapot.” “It’s hideous.” “Very pretty.” These comments from a four year-old boy, a businessman, and a housewife were typical of Perth’s reaction to the new ANZ bank sculpture.
The Sculpture is placed in the forecourt area of one of Perth’s most modern buildings in St. George’s Terrace. Most of the people passing the new building this morning paused to look at the large curved statue. Some amused, others annoyed – “take it out to sea and dump it overboard” – by the shell – like structure. But most people seemed to feel like the little girl, who ran up to the sculpture, said, “hello”, and gave it a welcoming pat.
Daily News (Perth) 25 November 1965, p24
But I still think it's pretty damn fine and i'd like to high five that little girl.
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