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Monday 18 May 2009

Of naked men and nuts and things


I work in Oxford, and every day I have a twenty minute walk from the train station to work. After about three months of walking every day ( yes yes I am a bit slow), I happened to look up and I saw this:





A statue of a man standing at the edge of a building, looking as if he is thinking about jumping.

He could be standing there to admire the view, or maybe he is watching the passersby, BUT [censored viewing, parental guidance advised, avert eyes now]



.


I am not sure how clear it is in the pictures, but from where I walk each day it is perfectly clear that this man is also naked. His dangly bit is in full view.

Now why would a naked man be standing at the edge of a building except to jump? He has clearly lost it and is about to go balls to the pavement.

He freaks me out, and now that I know the statue is there I can't stop myself from looking up each day and feeling just a little bit disturbed.

What kind of message is this crazy man sending out about Oxford? That if you study there you will go nuts and want to strip and then kill yourself? Noice.

Seriously though, I know there are people with Oxfordian backgrounds out there. Please won't you enlighten me as to the true significance of the naked man, so that I won't be freaked out every time I see him?

22 comments:

Prixie said...

lol...a naked man haunts the mundaneness of everyday life. :)

Cam said...

Until a pigeon shits on his winky! :)

po said...

no ideas, hmmm?

Cam said...

Ideas?

po said...

As to why there is a naked statue on top of the building?

MidniteGem said...

He is done by an artist called Anthony Gormley...i think he is pretty awesome - he likes to do pieces that make people talk. his latest thing is to put and actual people as stereotypes on the Trafalgar squar pillar each hour for 48 hours.

here is the link to the youtube video about the oxford man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxzerdGiE8U

Cam said...

Ah, ok. And why does it have to be a dude?

Anonymous said...

*blush*

I somehow knew it was an artist thing- there are tons of those we are studying in class. Hectic.

boldly benny said...

Ha ha ha ha! That is hilarious!

Tamara said...

This proves it - the Brits are batty.

I must admit though... it is a pretty interesting talking point ;-)

The Divine Miss M said...

I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!

They did this in London for ages. The naked man were all over The South Bank, on top of buildings and on the bridge.

FREAKY!

I love it though!

po said...

Wow guys, you are super informed, thanks! It really does strike me every time I see it and makes me think, that is for sure.

Caz said...

that is sooo disturbing! hahaha i would totally gawk every day!

Helen said...

That's so random! Imagine seeing that in South africa!

po said...

Caz: ja I forget it is there and then every day I look up and go WHA???

Helen: well there were those crazy colourful cows in strange places everywhere

LadyFi said...

LOL! Can't help as I went to the 'other' university...

But I'd say that a naked man looking at the view is artsy-fartsy and also timeless and classical...

Either that, or they just like dangly bits there! ;-)

po said...

Ladyfi: ah so are you the "bridge" half of the equation? For some reason I had you down a the "OX" bit. Oh well, in the end a bunch of Saffas knew the answer, who would have thought?

Rox said...

Classic - you never see cool stuff like that in Cape Town, we just have random 'arty' type shitty things all over the city.

Although the crappy and rusty old statue at the ETV studios finally fell down on Sunday, making a massive hole in the bricks. At least you get a laugh on your way to work!

po said...

Rox: hmm, you get a laugh, and I get a creeped out what the hell sensation. But its weird that the naked man is art, I thought he was a permanent feature, some famous Oxford scholar with a shadowy past... I feel let down a bit!

6000 said...

Ja. Anthony Gormley's installation "Another Place".

He did a lot (100) on a beach in Crosby near Liverpool.

Not a big art fundi, but loved this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6428935.stm

Janine / Being Brazen said...

very interesting statue. It would creep me out after a while though

po said...

6000: Oh yes, I know that one. Wierd I honetly never though of the man as art, just a sad Oxford professor or something.

BB: yeah, I wonder how long he will be there. Actually I will probably miss him when he goes.