RAY + JULIE 2005

Alan Dunn

As my barber said recently, folk either assume power over public art or they walk away from it immediately.

Maybe we're reading too much into these two chairs. Thousands have seen them, maybe batted the odd eye-lid on the way into The Lord Warden or waiting to go the cinema.
The ironies:
1. there is a distinct lack of talked-about street furniture in Liverpool
2. in ten years, the graffiti has gone, the commissioners have gone, the Development Agency has gone and the arts agents have gone
3. the artists went, but came back
4. the current 'renaissance' in public art in Liverpool is based around an impermanence or 'hiring in' of icons, thus deflecting concerns over the public adoption while at the same time offering solidity. If it's permanent, make it so. If it's temporary, make it so. If it's permanent through acceptance, allow it so. But don't dilly dally around the gaps.
5. those people who have 'made' ray + julie in this sense are not Alan Dunn & Brigitte Jurack; they are the person who re-sprayed the words RAY + JULIE after the original names had been removed, whoever wrote FEAR EVOL SEX on the RAY wall, and the halo on JULIE's wall, the cross on RAY and the ANGEL on JULIE, the ALL THE WAY and TED BUNDY IS BACK texts behind JULIE. In the workings of Liverpool, there are creative people (non-artists) lacking artists. Too often, cultural insitutions work with artists who lack creative non-artists.

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Alan Dunn
As my barber said recently, folk either assume power over public art or they walk away from it immediately.
Maybe we're reading too much into these two chairs. Thousands have seen them, maybe batted the odd eye-lid on the way into The Lord Warden or waiting to go the cinema. The ironies: 1. there is a distinct lack of talked-about street furniture in Liverpool 2. in ten years, the graffiti has gone, the commissioners have gone, the Development Agency has gone and the arts agents have gone 3. the artists went, but came back 4. the current 'renaissance' in public art in Liverpool is based around an impermanence or 'hiring in' of icons, thus deflecting concerns over the public adoption while at the same time offering solidity. If it's permanent, make it so. If it's temporary, make it so. If it's permanent through acceptance, allow it so. But don't dilly dally around the gaps. 5. those people who have 'made' ray + julie in this sense are not Alan Dunn & Brigitte Jurack; they are the person who re-sprayed the words RAY + JULIE after the original names had been removed, whoever wrote FEAR EVOL SEX on the RAY wall, and the halo on JULIE's wall, the cross on RAY and the ANGEL on JULIE, the ALL THE WAY and TED BUNDY IS BACK texts behind JULIE. In the workings of Liverpool, there are creative people (non-artists) lacking artists. Too often, cultural insitutions work with artists who lack creative non-artists.
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