There used to be a tradition of sculpting gargoyles for churches- you can see them all over Europe and on our national cathedral as well, and this statue would fit in well with most of them.
It’s not my cup of tea though, and neither are gargoyles, but there is a long tradition of grotesque sculpture, it is not something new to our times.
Seems to me the artist put an awful lot of time, effort and bronze into saying that his mother was a batwinged bitch.
You know, I thought of gargoyles and Muslims as well. We all know how Muslims feel about dogs. Perhaps this statue is a comment on the recent and ongoing crisis of sex trafficking of English girls by Muslim immigrants. Of course no one dare speak out against it with any directness lest they be accused of inciting violence against minorities. But if I was given the chance to put to form the feelings this horror stirs up in me as the mother of a sweet, innocent and very English-looking 8 year old daughter, this statue might just be it.
I know, wishful thinking I’m sure.
True, but gargoyles were not given places of honor in the public square. Gargoyles were depictions of fierce beast real and imaginary intended to frighten away evil spirits.
And the purpose of gargoyles was to frighten demons*.
[*insert your favorite “religion” here]
;)