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Wait for Me Daddy is an 'eyesore'

Dear Editor: Mayor Wright said that the reaction to the new Wait For Me Daddy sculpture would be one of surprise, awe, and wow. I agree, but not in a positive way. My thoughts are "Wow, that really is out of place and an eyesore.
Wait For Me Daddy
Warren (Whitey) Bernard was beaming during the unveiling of Wait For Me Daddy - but this letter writer isn't sold.

Dear Editor:

Mayor Wright said that the reaction to the new Wait For Me Daddy sculpture would be one of surprise, awe, and wow.

I agree, but not in a positive way. My thoughts are "Wow, that really is out of place and an eyesore."

Its placement on what was supposed to be a stage for musicians and actors seems slapdash and poorly considered. It thoroughly clashes with the small amphitheatre in Hyack Square. People sitting on the seats behind it no longer have a view of Eighth and Columbia, just the unadorned backside of a misplaced sculpture.

It is out of scale with the stage and overpowers the entire space. There is no subtlety here. It is a relief sculpture that would be more at home embedded in a nice granite wall, not hung in a shiny frame in the middle of an open space.

The sculpture also clashes with itself. There is the post-modern angular frames of brushed steel at odds with the very traditional bronze statue. One of my friends compared the ragged portion of bronze behind the soldiers as something out of a H.P. Lovecraft novel. It gives the bronze portion of the sculpture an amateurish and unfinished look.

I understand and enjoy the deep sense of its own history that New Westminster has. I also understand the desire to commemorate a touching moment in the city's military history and why they placed it there. However, simply plunking down this sculpture in Hyack Square without regard to the pre-existing architecture is someone's idea of putting their mark on the city cheaply and easily.

This sculpture needs to be removed and redone.

Gordon Westdorp, New Westminster