I only saw the Angel of the North close up for the first time the other day. I’ve seen it from afar, but I’m not quite sure what I made of it – I mean, it was more majestic than I had envisaged but I almost expected it to be… bigger?

Nearly eleven years on since it was created, it still remains a mystery to me. No doubt it means lots of things to different people; something that the North can champion, an iconic piece of art that reflects the region’s aspirations, a symbol of greatness?

Even so, you can imagine my intrigue when I hear that we are to get our very own statue here in Oxford. A giant, naked man made of cast-iron, designed by, nonetheless, Anthony Gormley (creator of Angel of the North).

The figure has been commissioned by Exeter College and is set to overlook Broad Street/Turl Street.

I wonder what people will think he symbolises? Will people think someone is “watching over them”, or about to jump off a building? I suspect there is more of a risk that some drunken student, stumbling back into halls after an action-packed night out, may have a shock of their life if they happen to look skywards.

Keep a look out (before he spots you, anyway) as he’s going to be unveiled on Sunday 15^th February. Aside from being clothes-less, he’ll be 7ft tall, so you won’t be able to miss him really.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Local News in Oxford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.