Page 59 - South Issue 12

59
Faringdon
Work starts on
Portwell seat
Nationally acclaimed artist Tim Shutter has now
started work on the Portwell seating project! He
spent a lot of June getting the lettering done
before other commitments took him away for
a while. He will be back in July to work on the
diver. However, most of this work will be done
in his studio in London. The final installation
will take place in August. He will, however, be
around now and again to work on the seat, so if
you see him, go over and say hello.
The Portwell seat refurbishment was funded
by Bloor Homes and the project is partly being
overseen by the Pink Pigeons Trust, who aim
to encourage public art in the town. The town
is still considered ‘the centre of serialism’ in
the UK and public art such as the Portwell
seat should help to seal this reputation for
generations to come.
Tim was commissioned to produce two
designs which were then subject to a public
consultation. The clear favourite was the
Deep Sea Diver design, which is inspired by
Lord Berners’ plan to hire a divers suit for his
friend Salvador Dali to wear at the opening
of his exhibition. At the opening, Dali tried to
give a lecture in the costume, but was almost
suffocated.
The lettering on the seat embodies the
surrealist message and reads ‘mistrust a man
who never has an occasional flash of silliness’.
The wording is written so that from the front of
the seat, all you can read is ‘a man who never
has an occasional flash’, leading to a rather
different interpretation of the quote!