Amidst the general chorus of condemnation, except by those who matter (the PM and his Ministerial sidekick Bonnici) about the location of the tat-market next to the Piano masterpiece, there was a small side-show about the sculpture of four knights that was proposed to be placed in the area.

This sculpture, let it not be forgotten, was commissioned during the PN government. Its proposed siting was unfortunate, to say the least, for aesthetic and historic reasons.

See, I can criticise the PN too.

That said, the piece itself, though I am no expert, is not at all bad, it is by an artist who is valid and validated (unlike the quasi-philistine who designed the happily defunct market stalls) and with sensitive positioning, will embellish some spot that needs it.

In fact, I suspect that the only reason that it was not insisted upon by the current bunch who run the country is that it was not their idea in the first place, so they were comfortable in letting Mepa decide to refuse the relevant permit. I suspect even more that had it been this bunch who came up with the idea of a sculpture over there, the piece would not have been chosen in the first place.

My suspicions are based on the evidence: this bunch of insensitive dilettantes are going to allow the tat-market to set up on the borders of, if not exactly up against (I wouldn’t bet on it) a project that, whining gainsayers or not, is something of which we can be proud. They are also responsible, with the saving grace that the PM, seeing the storm of criticism back-tracked, for the horrendous design of those stalls, which cost us quite a few thousands.

Given that evidence, they have no credentials for artistic sensibility, despite the Minister for Culture’s quasi-North Korean sloganeering about driving forward into a culture-laden future and such like drivel.

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