Gardens and Cats: Hector

Well, it's been 3 long years of desire, but I am now now the proud owner of a 5 foot galvinised metal giraffe.

The first thing I did last Wednesday at AAF Hampstead was find the Fine Art Consultancy stand, to talk to the lovely Kathryn Bell. The artist, by the way, is Mick Kirkby Geddes.

http://www.mkg.me.uk/homepage.htm

She wasn't showing him at AAF Hampstead, but they hadn't all sold at Battersea - joy of joys - and after a brief discussion she gave me a fantastic little discount, and the deal was struck. She would bring him to the fair, leave him at the Will's Art Warehouse stand (which happened to be across the way) and he would come back to the gallery/office on Monday.

Just to clarify, Will's Art Warehouse is affiliated with the Affordable Art Fair in that they were both created by the same man.

http://www.wills-art.com/

So there he was, all wrapped in bubble wrap, ready to transport. I undid the bubble wrap on his head so I could get a closer look. Picked him up - he's surprisingly not too heavy, as the shaft is hollow. But a little bit of a quandry - as my daily commute involves a bus, a walk, and two trains, that might be a little bit difficult with a 5 foot metal giraffe.

In stepped my friend James, who was at the gallery anyway and lives over my way, who could drop me off at Waterloo station which would cut out the first bus/walk/train. It remained to take him home via one short train ride, getting off a stop early to take a quick taxi ride home. Sure, I got some looks on the train. Oh my, did I get some looks, but mostly a lot of smiles. I decided to sit down, so his nose was practically in my face.

I wanted to kiss his nose, but I refrained. That might be just a little too weird.

And then he was home.

Safe and sound.

Now, at this point, I wasn't sure what to do with him. Do I put him in the garden, where he belongs?

Here he's kind of leaning against the jasmine, with no proper foothold. Looking pretty freaky.

He has bolt holes in the base to attach to, well, whatever you like. Block of wood, into the cement. He stands fine on the floor, but on uneven ground, it wasn't working out so well, and it was dark to boot.

So I brought him back in and had a little fun. I had to break it to the man, anyway, that "by the way we have a metal giraffe work of art, now".

I got major giggles every time I looked at him. The absolute joy of finally owning this amazing work of art.

In the end I decided to create a WTF moment and stuck him in the corner so he could see him when he got home, but really there's no way you could miss him anywhere. I was surprised by the reaction. It was love at first sight. And an insistence that no, he will stay inside. At least here in this flat, at least for now.