A recent public art installation has attracted attention for all of the wrong reasons.  Its shape is somewhat phallic when viewed from a certain angle.

The Herald has has a bit of a giggle about the object and interviewed Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse who defended the art and noted a similar controversy about the art on the Titirangi roundabout.

The Waitakere councillor says a temporary art installation at the Titirangi roundabout several years ago caused a huge furore with people demanding the “phallic” symbols be removed.

But when it came to removing the installation, she said, the community rose up to protect the installation.

Ms Hulse has not seen the $200,000 council-commissioned Transit Cloud sculpture at New Lynn, but encouraged people to look at it as a whole and think of it as a cloud.

I went down to have a look myself.  The particular object is one of four that break up the rather austere urban environment they are located in.  Here are two of them.

When I was there a number of people were walking around and having a chuckle at the offending piece.

Each piece of the artwork is clearly meant to integrate with the rest.  They are transparent and create an interesting effect when you look through any two of them.  Obviously it is intended that the effect changes as you walk through the arcade.

And the phallic one only looks this way when you see it from one side.  It is the more distant shape in this photograph and clearly looks nothing like a penis when viewed from this angle.

Overall I quite like them.  Local Board chair Catherine Farmer has mentioned they have 50 metres of neon tubing in them and when they are turned on I am sure the effect will be startling.

Public art is meant to be noticed, iconic and memorable.  This piece in New Lynn will be all of those things although perhaps not for the reasons the artist intended … but nevertheless these pieces add interest to an area that otherwise would be quite austere.