A sculpture by internationally renowned artist George Rickey has found a new home in Glasgow’s Queen Park after being feared missing for 26 years.
The stainless steel art piece was removed from the city’s Festival Park in 1994, after just one month on display as children had began using it as a piece of play equipment.
Mr Rickey, an American who spent much of his childhood growing up in Helensburgh, once expressed fears that the sculpture had been smashed up and thus lost. However, it had actually gone into storage in Bellahouston Park, before being moved to a facility in East Kilbride.
A recent audit confirmed that the art work remained in Glasgow City Council’s possession, allowing the local authority to put it on display at Queen’s Park. A survey of the area determined that the best place for the sculpture would be the park’s duck pond.
The pond has been fully drained and work to attach the sculpture to a ready made plinth has been completed. The pond will now be refilled before safety fencing is removed.
Councillor Anna Richardson, city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction, said, “It’s fantastic that this wonderful sculpture is back where it belongs – on show for everyone to see. Queen’s Park is a great location for the Triple L sculpture and I’m sure it will prove a huge amount of enjoyment for all visitors to the park.
“We are very hopeful where it is sited will help address the issues that led to it being placed in storage in the past. Twenty six years is a long time for the sculpture to out of sight, but everyone involved in the project has done a tremendous job to ensure Triple L can now be seen as was always intended by the artist.
“We are also very grateful to the Rickey family, who have been directly involved in the work to ensure Three Right Angles Horizontal is treated with the care that befits an artist of George Rickey’s stature.”
