Published: Wednesday, 5th May, 2010 11:20am

New public art is briefly unveiled

by Hamish Hutchinson

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Sculptor Rob Mulholland reflects on his work. (photo Jan van der Merwe)

THE three sculptures at the top of Alloa High Street were unveiled briefly on Tuesday as work on the £2 million re-vamp of the town centre nears completion.

Sculptor Rob Mulholland briefly unwrapped the 10ft stainless steel statues giving the Advertiser a sneak preview of his public art creations, which will be put back under wraps until all the town centre work is completed.

Cranes hoisted the massive figures in to place at the weekend and a fourth figure, designed after input from local volunteers was sited at Greenside Street near to the Kilncraigs building.

Rob, who has spent four months working on the sculptures, told the Advertiser, "I have mixed emotions on seeing them in place. It's a relief to get them on site and really quite exciting because I haven't seen them all unwrapped before and have been building them up a section at a time.

"I am really pleased with the scale as this is the first opportunity to see how visual the work is and I am looking forward to all the paving being finished and seeing the end result.

"The most important thing is the long term benefits as it will create an identity for the town which is very different to anywhere else. It's about having new ideas as everywhere nowadays is very similar and it is good to have a statement which says "no, this is Alloa and it's very different.

"It has taken me four months to complete the figures and each one is hand polished to create the mirrored steel finish. I see them very much as sentinels and passive watchers over the town centre, instantly recording the goings-ons and reflecting the day to day life of the town.

"I also wanted interaction but something like this is very different from trying to engage with people who come to see your work in a gallery. When you take art and put it in a public arena you can't impose something on people.

"The mirrored stainless steel allows people to interact and see themselves. There is also a distortion which will make people think about what is real in an altered reality."