Statuephilia

Today the media got its first view of the contemporary statues being exhibited at the British Museum in Statuephilia, which opens to the public on Saturday (title link). The BBC has posted photos of four of the statues In Pictures (CLICK) and has devoted a whole page to a solid gold statue of Kate Moss (CLICK). Yes, it weighs 50 kilo-thingies and is worth £1.5m, but Marc Quinn's Siren is a rehash of his Sphinx 2005 (CLICK) and all it proves to me is that gold is a lousy metal for a statue: it's too dazzling. More interesting is Ron Mueck's Mask II, shown here, a monstrous self-portrait of the artist sleeping. It's in the Wellcome Trust Gallery. The statues are spread around the museum, so get your hiking boots on if you fancy viewing them all. Entry is free!