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JF Kennedy Mural,
(Original: Kenneth Budd, 1968,
replica: Oliver Budd, 2013)
The Kennedy mosaic demonstrates several issues.
Firstly the graffiti vandalism, which at first appeared
around but not on this piece has now moved onto
the main mosaic. There is certainly no ‘broken
window’ policy in place. The graffiti could be
considered as very controversially placed, and yet
has not been cleaned off in many months.
The second issue is the way the cleaning of the
graffiti from the metalwork has been undertaken.
Cleaning graffiti is a very specialist procedure and, if
not done well, can actually just leave an even greater
mess. Corten steel in particular is difficult as a base,
as it relies on an ageing process
and partial surface cleaning can be
problematic.
See Historic England guidance on
removal of graffiti.
Unfortunately it is not clear who
maintains this important piece of public art with
graffiti removal certainly needing the application of
a robust broken window theory aproach.
The graffiti on the mosaic has recently been
removed and the mosaic is in great condition.
However, the stainless steel is more difficult
to return to the original state.
New graffiti tagging is a continual problem -
as seen below on 25th March 2023
Vandalism graffiti as it was in 2022 - March 2023
Memorial to Tony Hancock
Bruce Williams, 1996 This piece has very few ongoing maintenance needs, but does need some help in two areas presently. Firstly, over its 25 year life some of the glass reflectors that make the statue so appealing have been lost. These need to be replaced to give the intended impact. Not a huge job and probably a day’s work by the artist, who still has this as his star on his website. Secondly there is a nasty piece of graffiti, with a name scratched through the black outer layer on the front of the work which cuts into the underlying metal. Again this not a huge job but a skilful one to repair and ideally done as quickly as possible, to discourage further vandalism - it appeared some months ago. This piece is one of the 36 public artworks that are looked after by the Birmingham’s Museum Trust but their annual budget does not going anywhere close to being able undertake remedial work such as this. It clearly demonstrates that no public art is truly free of some ongoing financial support, both in recovering from graffiti vandalism and also occasional remedial work. • Update: in June 2023 coservation work has started on this piece.
[Photo: 11/3/2023]
Spending two years photographing and revisiting public art has been fun. It has given a
feel for pieces that have been looked after, along with others that are now at risk or in
need of some tender loving care.
At the time of commissioning public art sustainability is usually considered. All public
art needs ongoing support, from preventative maintenance of water features, to
removing graffiti to adhere to the ‘broken window theory’ that timely removal
discourages further vandalism.
Here we see different issues impacting on public art in Birmingham. No easy solutions,
but if we identify things at least we can consider how to address them.
It looked like iron originally, but in fact it is
constructed from layers of fibreglass built on a
tubular steel frame, with the top layers including
iron fillings. The locally added and much made-over
blue nose now needs a little attention, with the
laminate starting to break down.
Not a huge or costly amount of work, but if not
done then eventually the water ingress will worse
and the frost will do its work. In the end the
Sleeping Iron Giant will not be a blue nose anymore
and will either be lost or require major funding!
Sleeping Iron Giant, (Ondre Nowakowski, 1992, Garrison Lane)
Public Art Needing some TLC
www.birminghamspublic.art
