East London has a very large, yet very easy to miss sculpture in full view of people who shouldn’t look at it.
This is Aerobic, and is, once you get to the right side to see it properly, fairly clearly a stylized figure, dancing or exercising, depending on your point of view.
It was commissioned by the London Docklands Development Board from the rather controversial artist, Allen Jones, in 1993, when he was going through a phase of creating a “playful stylisation in figure sculptures” from sheets of metal.
Why it’s in full view and hard to see is that it’s situated on the Leamouth Roundabout, which is partly filled with trees, so the sculpture is only visible from one side. Also, hopefully, at least, motorists should be looking at the road, and not admiring the art.
So in a curious way, this most visible of artworks is almost invisible.
