A question of influence

Three Squares Gyratory by George Rickey (1972)

Up at Glasgow University this morning to take a photograph of Hans Gasser's marble sculpture of Adam Smith for the section about influences in the George Wyllie Education website. It's an elegant portrait of Smith created in 1867, almost a hundred years after his death. Gasser also created a full-length figure of Mozart for the Mozart Cenotaph in Vienna. His sculpture (no question mark) of Adam Smith stands easily in place at the foot of the staircase just below the Randolf Hall, surrounded by all the Gothic glamour of the old building.

Outside in the Quad is George Rickey's Three Squares Gyratory created just over another hundred years later. Rickey, like Adam Smith, is one of the influences on George Wyllie which pupils will be exploring, along with Burns and Beuys, and a photo of his sculpture (maybe a question mark) was also needed.

Pupils will be asked questions, and will be asking questions, so some questions tonight.

As a student at Glasgow, I never liked George Rickey's Three Squares Gyratory and in my enthusiasm for the history I was studying, the sculpture annoyed me on my daily treks past it. I didn't like its shapes, or the materials with which it was made, and in the winter especially, in the snow, it always seemed at odds with its surroundings.

That may just have been my teenage self. What do I think of it now?

... Well, what do you think, about the sculpture itself, about the materials it's made from, about where it now stands, about what it means?

If you're a class in school and are looking at today's blip, you could comment on the blog on Glow.

Or if your class has a Blipfoto journal, you could comment below.

If you left school long ago or even recently, the pupils would be interested in hearing your answers, your questions.

It's all about questions, and a bit about influence.