Just a few days after it was placed in secrecy at Gold Coast’s iconic Burleigh Hill, a Greek-looking sculpture of a woman was removed by authorities.
The artefact was reportedly installed overnight last week with local residents first noticing it on Friday morning.
No one has come out publicly as a ‘witness’ to the installation process, which appears to have taken place ‘incognito’ despite the size of the off-white statue exceeding a metre in height and the fact that it was concreted into the ground.
Also unknown is the artist who created the sculpture.
Depicting a female half nude figure with missing arms and a part of its face missing, the statue bears resemblance to the Aphrodite of Milos marble statue, the original version of which is displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
As reported by local media, reactions to the mystery public art installation have been mixed, with some appreciating the aesthetics, while critics stated annoyed by the statue having been erected without permission by relevant authorities.
The Greek-inspired artistic intervention did not last beyond Monday morning, when it was removed by council staff and transported to the City depot, available for collection by its owner.
In a statement over the incident, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate encouraged anyone wanting to have public art installations placed to “go through the right channels”.
“People know I love art and art is subjective… but there’s a place for it.
“On this instance I look at it as illegal dumping, the statue will be removed and they can reclaim it at our depot.”
Asked by Neos Kosmos whether any illegal dumping fines could be imposed to the owners, a council spokesperson said that “if a decision was made to pursue it, City officers would investigate and consider the appropriate category of offence and course of action.”
Cr Tate justified the removal of the statue citing the council’s public arts policy and the need to regulate placement of artworks in public spaces.
“We’ve got a culture department, they could’ve contacted it and go ‘I’ve got this artwork and we want to do something positive with it.’
“I have to take that action otherwise you’re going to get various works throughout the city.”
No individual or collective is known to have publicly claimed ownership of the statue.
A brief video of the installation was posted on Instagram by the Mon Abri art group and captioned as ‘Installation 1’.
Working with installation artists to deliver public works is one of the areas within the group’s working scope according to their website.
“We partner with government organisations, business and property holders to add value to their sites through art interventions of all scales, be that permanent or temporary,” they say.
