The Dream: St. Helens, Lancashire.

[poliphilo]

The Dream is a 66 ft sculpture by Catalan artist Jaume Plesna, which stands on the site of the former colliery- now a forest- at Sutton Manor, near St Helens. It was commissioned by former miners- as a monument to their now vanished industry- and was completed in April 2009.  

It has been compared to Anthony Gormley's iconic Angel of the North- but it's a very different experience. Where the Angel dominates its landscape, the Dream stands among trees- which by the time they are fully grown will all but hide it. You cannot drive up to it, but have to park at a distance and approach its clearing by foot-paths that curve around the hill. Unlike the Angel, which is assertive, masculine- built of girders- the Dream- made of a highly refelective mix of concrete and Spanish alabaster, seems hardly there- as if it had coalesced out of the clouds.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting, androgenous face. I first took it to be female, but when you said it was commissioned by the former miners, I realised that it could be male too.

I love that last photo of just the face against the clouds. It looks like a painting, not a photo of something real and solid.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe the model was a little girl- but you're right, the face is androgenous- as children's faces are.

I think it's an astonishing achievement to make something so ethereal out of concrete.