People just end up over-thinking this. One chap appears to find the Jen Reid statue almost as offensive as the Edward Colson one it (briefly) replaced.
From GQ (via Daily Mail):
So you don’t feel Quinn’s sculpture celebrated the protestor’s moment, nor supported the Black Lives Matter movement?
"Marc Quinn saw Jen Reid, actually a photograph of Jen [Reid] standing on Colston's plinth, on social media, I believe. And that's when he thought that it would make a great sculpture. He told the Guardian, “When I saw the picture of Jen on Instagram, I immediately thought it would be great to immortalise that moment. The image is a silhouette: she looked like a sculpture already.” It was the thinking and actions of some old-school documentary maker, or a trophy hunter. Quinn decided that he could control that image of Jen Reid. For her, that moment was one that felt right, that felt powerful, but it’s as if Quinn, by casting her in resin, and controlling her, is stealing that genuine moment away, claiming it as his own.
"It’s very interesting that he uses “power” in the title; it is called “A Surge Of Power”. Yet whose power? Where is the power flowing to or from? To Jen? To the artwork? Or to Marc Quinn? He talks about this as an opportunity. An opportunity for this black woman, for the Black Lives Matter movement and an opportunity for racial equality. The hubris of this man is incredible. He hasn’t given anything, he’s only taken. He’s exploited an opportunity."
A statue means pretty much whatever you want it to mean. I prefer to just look at the skill, artistry and techniques. The Jen Reid statue is (was?) a masterpiece by any definition, and it has somehow managed to piss off a load of people as well. If I were in the sculpting game and looking for a quick win, I would cast a statue of two bestockinged legs sticking in the air and dump it a shallow part of Bristol Harbour (making sure it is not a hazard to boats, of course, always do your risk assessment!).
While I am on the topic, the Edward Colson statue was just as excellent on an artistic or technical level. The fact that nobody's really sure why it was put up 170 years after his death adds to the mystique. (Yes, he was a bastard, but we can't change facts or re-write history; whoever put the statue up was busily re-writing history as well). The Jen Reid statue is somehow very similar in overall look-and-feel:
Debate Magazine
