DSC00201 Next in our series of over­looked Wel­ling­ton pub­lic art is this beauty here to the right.

If you’ve not seen it before I’d be extremely sur­prised, because it’s plonked pretty much squarely oppos­ite the Lido, some­where seem­ing to always be awash with punters tip­ping the usu­al vari­ety of liquids and solids into them­selves.

As you can see, it’s a great piece, bronze, and tex­tured in a mar­velously subtle way. The slightly abstract lines just make it all the more curi­ous to look at, and the com­plete absence of nose-hair sug­gests the mod­el was extremely well-kempt.

So… what is it?


This bust is called Great Head, and was com­mis­sioned in 1986 by the Ren­ouf’s. The sculptor is Terry Stringer, some of whose oth­er work is shown in the link, and more here.

It’s a great piece in one of my favour­ite parts of town. There’s some­thing dis­tinctly cos­mo­pol­it­an about that corner of Wake­field and Vic­tor­ia. Some­thing I wish more of Wel­ling­ton had!

But one does­n’t com­plain.