Art in Gateshead #7 Sports Day

Artist: Mike Winstone
198X

This sculpture divides opinion -many hate it but I'm more ambivalent although it is a bit of a heavy lump in a street which is long and better suited to more elegant pieces perhaps.

It's in a very prominent location on West Street. Originally it was painted brought colours but subsequently painted black by the Council.

Supposedly the artist created it by carving a block of expanded polystyrene with a chainsaw and then covering it in a skin of cement. Apparently it was even set fire to at one stage and then subsequently protected by local punks. It is supposed to represent the enjoyment of sport and includes the tortoise and the hare from Aesop's fables as well as the sack and the egg and spoon race from school sports days.