The London Society and London Historians’ poll to find the public monument or statue that is least liked, came to an exciting conclusion on 26 February (a full report of the evening can be found here) in the Sir Christopher Hatton pub in Leather Lane. Nearly 1,000 votes were cast across the ten shortlisted candidates, but three statues stood out, each polling over 20% of the total.
Third came “A Conversation with Oscar Wilde” by Maggi Hambling, which can be found on the Strand, opposite Charing Cross station. The pre-vote favourite (and the most-nominated of all the shortlist) was “The Meeting Place“, Paul Day’s monstrously large piece in St Pancras station, but this fell away as voting continued and could only manage second to the eventual winner which was… “William” by Rebecca Warren, a relatively new piece in Renzo Piano’s Central St Giles complex. The artist suggests the work speaks of the always shifting present, a non-gender-specific figure whose form emphasises movement in a way that reflects the constant motion of passing through a busy urban space‚. A voter’s comment was that the statue reminded him of a very different type of motion. Thanks to all who took part in the nominations and the voting.
(image by Ham: under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)
