Scrap Metal or Work of Art? (The Angel of the North)

Member Name: ks.h

Product:	The Angel of the North
Date:	26/03/02 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Depicts the spirit of the area

Disadvantages: Still creates misunderstanding

The Angel of the North is situated at Eighton Banks in Gateshead next to the A1 (Western Bypass) and about three miles from Gateshead Metro Centre; it was built on a hilltop site over an old coalmine and can be seen by passengers travelling by train on the East Coast mainline from London to Edinburgh as well as over ninety-thousand motorists a day.

Money was allocated, mainly from the National Lottery, to be spent on art in Gateshead and the Local Authority commissioned the British artist Anthony Gormley to create a sculpture specifically for the Eighton Bank site, his brief was to create something symbolic of the area to reflect the decline of heavy industry in the North East, the economic re-birth of the area and be a landmark work of public art to take away the starkness of the skyline visible from a distance.

Anthony Gormley was born in 1950 and he is thought to be at the forefront of a generation of celebrated younger British artists who emerged during the 1980’s, he won the Turner Prize in 1994 and has major public works in the USA, Japan, Australia, Norway and Eire.

The Angel of the North basically takes the form of a human figure based on the artist’s own body; it is made of weather resistant steel, containing copper to form a patina on the surface that will mellow with age, it has been built to last for more than one hundred years and withstand winds of more than one hundred miles per hour.

Weighing two hundred and eight tonne the Angel stands sixty-five feet high (twenty metres), which is higher than a five-storey building and has a wingspan of one hundred and sixty-nine feet (fifty-four metres), which is approximately the same as a jumbo jet. The Angel is anchored in to solid rock seventy-one feet (twenty-two metres) below ground by massive concrete piles weighing one hundred and eight tonne of the total weight of the structure.

The Angel’s body is hollow to allow for internal inspections and
has an access door high up on one of the shoulder blades, the face does not have individual features and the wings are positioned at about three point five degrees to give a sense of embrace. The sculpture cost £800,000 and was unveiled in early 1998; it is the largest sculpture in Britain.

Before the arrival of the Angel most people in the region were opposed to it, the artist’s impressions that we were shown looked hideous and people argued that the money could be better spent elsewhere, such as Education, Health or Police. Those who were in favour of the Angel argued that if we did not spend the money on the Arts it would be used elsewhere in the Country, it was not for us to decide what the money was spent on it was allocated for the Arts.

Now we have the Angel it is still a subject for debate in the pubs and social clubs in the area and occasionally on radio phone-ins. I have heard people describe the Angel as a rusty heap, which would look better if it were painted, others have said it reflects the myth of Icarus and mankind’s longing to fly, Lord Gowrie, chairman of the Arts Council described it thus “It’s a witness to life at the end of the twentieth Century. The car is a human body isolated in a bubble, not communicating with anyone else. The Angel is trying to ask ‘is that all we are?’”

For me the Angel of the North reflects the spirit of the North East, its red rusty frame depicts the sad decline of the shipyards and coal mining industry with all the secondary jobs associated with heavy industry, the position of its wings and stature depict the regeneration of the area through cleaner, fresher air and an influx of new jobs – Tyneside is now thought of as the call centre capital of the Country.

The Angel rises from the old abandoned coalmine below ground and dominates the skyline of the area, it can be seen for miles and attracts visitors from around the world; it has hi
ghlighted Gateshead on the map.

I have passed the Angel many times now and no matter what time of the day or night it is there are always people walking around its base, I’ve passed at dawn on my way to the airport, very late evening coming home and numerous times throughout the day, people take picnics and sit by the Angel and take photos day and night. At the dawn of the new millennium the Angel seemed to be one of the places to be and people made their way there as if going on a pilgrimage. The success of the Angel of the North helped win funding from the Arts Council for the Gateshead Quays development.

To appreciate the beauty of the Angel of the North you have to understand what it symbolises and once you understand it you grow to love it, but one thing is certain love it or hate it the Angel of the North is here to stay.

Summary: