Sunday, 28 August 2011

Save Kelburn Castle's graffiti

My next door neighbour, the Earl of Glasgow (Patrick Doyle), has asked that the graffiti currently adorning his house at Kelburn Castle be allowed to remain. The murals on the castle were painted by Brazilian artists in 2007 on the understanding that the work would be temporary, before the castle's exterior render was due to be replaced.

I am a HUGE fan of the murals, which can be seen on my report of March 16th 2010 and I would fully support the call for the good noble's murals to remain, or to be reproduced if Historic Scotland insists that the render must be replaced. There is no point in preserving property just for the hell of it. Kelburn Castle is a major part of our local tourist landscape and as Mr. Boyle says, "The mural might look a bit outlandish and futuristic but if it provokes interest and makes people smile, why shouldn't it stay?"

I absolutely agree - in Northern Ireland where I am originally from, complete idiots have plastered buildings with sectarian hate art, and yet they can get away with it. In Kelburn Castle, the work there is by comparison truly wonderful, and I would rather look at it as a modern addition to the landscape, a building that has merely adapted to the latest stage of its 800 year existence, than have it revert to just another ordinary stuffy Scottish castle.

I'm not a great fan of the nobility - but hats off to Mr Doyle for going with this in the first place, and I truly hope he succeeds. So come on Historic Scotland - do the right thing! It's different and says more about modern Scotland than some dusty old turret rendered in pink could ever do.


(With thanks to @ScottishHistory on Twitter)

Chris

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree, I get fed up of people always living in the past, yes keep the castle but with a modern twist, its beautiful Margaret Fraser

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  2. The graffiti should stay in some form or another. If the castle needs to be re-rendered to help preserve it, then that must be done, but why not replace the graffiti afterwards? Largs is twinned with Brisbane, Australia. Why not invite a prominent Brisbane street artist over to give us another one of a kind work of contemporary art to be proud of? Make another huge event of it and increase tourism to Largs.

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