WHAT do you reckon? This is the new public artwork for a service station planned for Walter Road, Embleton

Costing about $38,000 and paid for by the developer, Bayswater councillors (mostly) gave it a thumbs up at their last planning meeting, with just Sally Palmer lodging a no vote.

Designed by artists Luke Davey and John Denaro across five weeks, the 5.7-metre sculpture is called People Power and “aims to generate a response that lasts beyond the fleeting moment of visual engagement, to resonate with the viewer, to provide a metaphor which is contemplative but also has light hearted humour”.

Cr Catherine Ehrhardt said her first thought was it was very “literal” but she grew to like it: “The more I looked at the piece the more it grew on me.”

Lorna Clarke also supported it: “I had a similar reaction when I saw it, but art is in the eye of the beholder. I studied art history as an undergrad, and plenty of art I looked at in my undergrad I thought wasn’t actually art, so who am I to say.”

Cr Sally Palmer lodged the only vote against the artwork, saying the plug “doesn’t fit”.

“It’s quite a nice upmarket village location and I think putting a plug and a box on the other side of the road doesn’t complement the area.

Cr Ehrhardt suggested they get their Arts Advisory Group to have a look at public art pieces.

by DAVID BELL