Making Plans

When all the craziness of this month is over (parties, goodbyes and other sadnesses) I should like to see the Anthony Gormley installation Flare II at Salisbury Cathedral. His work  always stays in my mind and makes me think about what it is to be human. I remember a cold day in May in Liverpool in 2010 waiting for his figures to emerge from the receding tide.on Crosby beach. Awesome!!  Figures appearing as far as the eye could see, crusted and barnacled from their daily immersion in the Mersey estuary. Bare foot and freezing in the icy water my need to touch and somehow link with each figure is quite overwhelming and quietly  moving.



The sun came out later that day and thawed me out a bit. I think that is why my journal of the visit suddenly broke out into much warmer colours without me consciously deciding on a colour palette.

I'm glad that this installation will stay put, until that is the dreaded Health and Safety ministry deems it too dangerous. The idea of the slow decay into the sea is strangely comforting and thought provoking.

Well worth a long drive to see, especially if you time your arrival at high tide and allow enough time to watch the full performance of the figures emerge - alternatively if you are feeling particularly nihilistic you can watch the figures 'drown' as the tide comes in.