Apologies, folks. Haven’t posted since April due to an unfortunate run of health problems, including a fractured spine. But you can’t keep a good girl down! Toujours gai!
I was telling you about two artists in residence at U.T.,S. appointed by the Assistant Registrar Stanley Ashmore-Smith. They were sculptors from the Highlands of New Guinea. Stan put them to work on a scupture on a huge block of sandstone set in the centre of the main entrance to Building 1. The work-in-progress was under a cover, no-one could see what was taking shape underneath.
Probably 18 months went by and it was unveiling day. All the brass gathered together in front of the statue. I happened to be standing next to he of the affair and stealing a sideways glance
I could see his face turning magenta when the statue was revealed. At the top a face unmistakeably resembling his own – unmistakeable because he had an unusual beard – and at the bottom a face depicting his light of love. Joining them together was a large phallus like a diamond python.
Stan must have been planning this punishment for three years or more between the birth of the idea and the unveiling of its execution, and would have been pleased that it had obviously hit home. I don’t think anyone there would have missed the resemblance to the parties involved.
Stan had obviously thought ahead by installing a stone that was too large and too set in to be easily removed. It stayed there for many years, but when I walked past recently I saw that it had gone.