Art on the Canals


I am still struggling to come to terms with the rash of artistic sculpture that has broken out all over the waterways, and particularly in my corner of the canal system round Ellesmere on the Llangollen Canal. I am trying to like it – really I am – but I generally end up feeling disappointed and mildly annoyed at the waste of talent and time. So, purporting to be a practising local artist of some sort myself it seems essential that I should at least analyse and understand my own disappointment however badly it reveals my ignorance or disagrees with the prevailing fashion.

Art on the Canals

I am not going to review these sculptures individually here – they are too many and too varied for my limited criticism to be useful but I do have serious doubts about the whole conception. After forty five years of thinking about it I am confident that I am especially aware of some of the unusual aesthetic qualities inherent in the waterways, and I worry that too many of these new artistic additions are diminishing that specialness instead of preserving or enhancing it. Instead of something structural, bold and functional we are getting fractured and frilly. Part of the problem is the arguable premise that the canal needs improving anyway, that it needs altering to make it more attractive to the newcomer rather than educating the newcomer to the existing historic nature of the canal experience. (Grumpy purists among us still try to argue back against that.) My feeling is that this concentration on the towpath as urban art gallery is diluting the canal ethos into something more municipally messy, or perhaps I should say less pejoratively, more varied. Is this good or bad? Do come to Ellesmere for a look at this conundrum in a concentrated half a mile or so. You will find a fair number of photographs at www.ellesmeresculpture.co.uk  although not of the works actually commissioned by British Waterways.


I am not going to review these sculptures individually here – they are too many and too varied for my limited criticism to be useful but I do have serious doubts about the whole conception. After forty five years of thinking about it I am confident that I am especially aware of some of the unusual aesthetic qualities inherent in the waterways, and I worry that too many of these new artistic additions are diminishing that specialness instead of preserving or enhancing it. Instead of something structural, bold and functional we are getting fractured and frilly. Part of the problem is the arguable premise that the canal needs improving anyway, that it needs altering to make it more attractive to the newcomer rather than educating the newcomer to the existing historic nature of the canal experience. (Grumpy purists among us still try to argue back against that.) My feeling is that this concentration on the towpath as urban art gallery is diluting the canal ethos into something more municipally messy, or perhaps I should say less pejoratively, more varied. Is this good or bad? Do come to Ellesmere for a look at this conundrum in a concentrated half a mile or so. You will find a fair number of photographs at www.ellesmeresculpture.co.uk  although not of the works actually commissioned by British Waterways.


For me the main problem seems to be one of scale. Those with a few years canal experience, those that know they’ve got the canal bug in their soul are already aesthetically experienced into the visual and theatrical culture of the canals, although few canal boaters would probably express it in those high-falutin’ terms. Every time you work a boat through a lock you go through a sculptural experience, like it or not. The thrusting power of the bottom gate balance beams jutting out against the sky, massive curving stonework, the personality of black iron paddle gear pushing cogged fingers up in the air and the glorious quiet moment of equilibrium as tons of wet wood suddenly moves to the power of a human hand. The shining sky mirror of water sweeping round the curves of the landscape or jabbing out into the distance across the valley, under Henry Moore curved bridges and through Barbara Hepworth holes on a huge scale…. Right Mr sculptor, that’s the background, can you make us something quick and cheap to enhance that experience for everybody please? No pressure then, no competition to speak of?

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I am sure that the original intention of the commissioning agent for these artworks is generally benevolent. A bit of art is good for everybody, right? Well, maybe temporarily but not necessarily permanently. Like most people I live amongst a personal clutter of pictures and objects but I would not expect anyone else to live particularly happily amongst my own individual cultural mess for long. It is personal because everything has been chosen or accepted through the filter of my own taste. Because of the history of my life it is all a bit of an art gallery but I wouldn’t want to live in somebody else’s art gallery. Personal space is different to public space and public art needs a different set of criteria to private artworks. It needs to have a considered relationship to its environment because each affects the other. The use of a bit of canal as a temporary art gallery seems a great idea to me, much like having a boat rally to arouse interest and draw new people in, but — to use museum conservation jargon — the process must be reversible. The truth of the canal should not be permanently impaired however well- intentioned the concept. Gosh, we are wading into some subtle philosophy here aren’t we, the truth? Maybe, but much of this artwork seems to me slight, ephemeral or silly and the canal is none of those.

All materials and images © Canal Junction Ltd. Dalton House, 35 Chester St, Wrexham LL13 8AH. No unauthorised reproduction.

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