Truth, Beauty

This weekend I was down in Devon visiting my folks, now in full disaster recovery mode after the December floods.

We decided to do something out and about on Saturday and resolved to go and check out the new sculpture at Ilfracombe; “Verity” by Damien Hirst.

This is a little montage I put together. The problem with photographing the sculpture is that, first of all, it’s covered in scaffolding and secondly the location means it is surrounded by dry docked yachts. So it’s significant size is somewhat underwhelming, as some serious masts from the nearby yachts extend higher than the Hirst sculpture does.

The town itself is a little run down, as many are in that part of the world, with the town centre filled with closed or closing shops and those that are still trading are generall pound stores and charity shops. There is not an awful lot to bring you to Ilfracombe, bar the usual selection of fish and chip places and the dockyard itself, if you’re a sailing type.

So, our decision to go to the town was almost exclusively to see the new sculpture. The locals are apparently ‘up in arms’ about the ‘controversial’ artwork and a lot of people actually want it taken down. Now, first of all, I don’t find the sculpture offensive or ugly. Yes it has the hallmarks of a classic Hirst, with one side of Verity showing her internal organs and featus of her unborn child. However, as the work is made from bronze, it does not shock with the bright blood reds of the human anatomy, but retains a greenish brown.