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SOME thought it was an April Fool's prank, others a waste of $20,000 after The Standard's April 1 story announcing the selection of Ewen Coates' sculpture as Warrnambool's newest piece of public art.
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The Three Pillars of Instant Gratification provoked an immediate response from readers with a flood of text messages to The Standard and conversations in workplaces across the district.
One reader said "it looks like a tree stump with Peter Garrett eating a hamburger while his mates keep an eye out".
Another described it as "an expensive seagull perch".
Even Warrnambool City Council sent an internal memo to staff saying the story was not a joke.
The sculpture, measuring one metre wide by 1.5 metres high, has three bronze caricatures sitting on a concrete and resin tree stump.
One is eating a lolly bar, another a pastie and another what looks like a piece of fruit as a humourous interpretation by Coates on consumerism.
His work was chosen ahead of three other submissions as part of a new commitment by the council to increase the number of public art pieces.
The selection by an independent four-member panel from the arts community was approved on Monday night by the city council which had set aside $20,000 in its budget for a new CBD showpiece.
It is expected to have the sculpture installed in Liebig Street near the Koroit Street intersection by the end of June.
One of the selection panel members, Ross Gray, told The Standard yesterday Coates' work was a unanimous choice.
"This is about trying to involve the general public in art, not to have it all locked up in galleries," he said.
"Public art is always controversial.
"Half will love it, half will hate it. That's good, if it provokes discussion."
“This piece is something that people can warm to.
“Some will dislike it at first, then it will grow on them, Mr Gray said.
“It has an element of entertainment as well as saying something about society.”
Mr Gray, a retired lecturer with Deakin University’s faculty of art, said the Coates work would relate to children as well as adults. “It’s built at eye level. We wanted it to be accessible to a broad range of people,” he said.
“We’ve been struggling for some time to get more public art.
“In the future we will be looking for suggestions from the community on where to place it — in recreation and sporting areas and even industrial areas.”
The Three Pillars of Instant Gratification has been exhibited widely.
Coates is a Melbourne-based artist and sculpture who studied at Deakin University Warrnambool and has won several awards including last year’s Montalto sculpture prize with another piece.