On the way to work
I often walk past these two statues, outside the British Council, just off the Mall and the Admiralty Arch, and they never fail to make me smile (the first time I saw them, it was more of a WTF moment).
Thanks to a plaque on the floor (and the net), I've learnt that they are Barry Flanagan's "Large Mirror Nijinski".
Apparently Dublin is awash with his trademark bronze hares; these statues were only installed here last year, the same year that the artist passed away.
At first I thought that there dancing or practising martial arts, but then I noticed the ball. Maybe they are just playing football, or aiming a rock towards one of those windows.
According to the British Council (UK at the Venice Biennale section):
"Hares are another preoccupation. The animal's fearlessness, fleetness of foot and unfussiness about public sex - and the resultant abundance of leverets - mean it crops up in mythology all over the world. Its roles range from incognito witch to bringer of bad luck; Boadicea is thought to have sent one running into the invading Romans' ranks in the hope they'd strike at it and be cursed with cowardice. This ubiquity might explain why some Eastern cultures reckon there to be a hare, rather than a man, in the moon."
My PC at work drove me insane today. Now I know it was the hares' fault.
Thanks to a plaque on the floor (and the net), I've learnt that they are Barry Flanagan's "Large Mirror Nijinski".
Apparently Dublin is awash with his trademark bronze hares; these statues were only installed here last year, the same year that the artist passed away.
At first I thought that there dancing or practising martial arts, but then I noticed the ball. Maybe they are just playing football, or aiming a rock towards one of those windows.
According to the British Council (UK at the Venice Biennale section):
"Hares are another preoccupation. The animal's fearlessness, fleetness of foot and unfussiness about public sex - and the resultant abundance of leverets - mean it crops up in mythology all over the world. Its roles range from incognito witch to bringer of bad luck; Boadicea is thought to have sent one running into the invading Romans' ranks in the hope they'd strike at it and be cursed with cowardice. This ubiquity might explain why some Eastern cultures reckon there to be a hare, rather than a man, in the moon."
My PC at work drove me insane today. Now I know it was the hares' fault.