Outline of the situation

Available: Angus Young sculpture

The story about a sculptural portrait

and a vision that vanished into the air

In January 2010 I was asked if I would make a sculpture of the AC/DC lead singer Angus Young, which would be erected in connection with the AC/DC concert in the Danish city of Horsens 5. June 2010. The vision was that the sculpture would be the start of the rock’s ‘Hall of Fame’ in Horsens.

I made the suggestion below as a 1 to 10 model in bronze. The record company was very enthusiastic about the idea, and they contacted AC/DC. They approved the project and the sculpture. Horsens was contacted and the concert promoter (Frank Panduro) liked the idea. He procured the money and planned a big inauguration in front of the Horsens arena on 5 June with the 30,000 AC/DC fans and the band.

But then the party stopped due to a very long procedure time in Horsens municipality. The administration protracted the permission to set up the sculpture to early May, and it was impossible to make the sculpture on time.

Result: Horsens will not get an AC/DC sculpture and the rock’s ‘Hall of Fame’. I have in return an available sculpture proposal, if others could be interested in the idea of kick starting a rock ‘Hall of Fame’ in their country or city in connection with an AC/DC concert.

Yours sincerely,

Jens Galschiot, 5 May 2010

Portrait of AC/DC and Angus Young

Task:

The sculpture of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young to be erected on the square in front of the Horsens theatre / alternative at Forum. Maybe as the start on the Rock’s ‘Hall of Fame’ in Horsens city.

Schedule:

The sculpture is made in the connection with the AC/DC concert in Horsens on 5 June 2010.

Materials:

Sculpture: Copper/bronze, black patinated.

Plinth: stainless steel coated with black patinated copper.

Size (all measures are approximate):

Portrait of Angus Young in natural size 157 cm.

The plinth goes up to 3.1 meters height and reaches 3.9 meters out in the room. It is 1 meter wide and 40 cm thick at the base. From the base it gets smaller and will end up being 50 cm wide and 8 cm thick.

Description of the sculpture:

See photos of the bronze model: www.aidoh.dk/AC/DC

This outline of the sculpture is to give an impression of the visual appearance of the sculpture with plinth in the square. The surface of the plinth and the detailed posture of Angus Young will change a lot when I start creating the sculpture in full scale.

The sculpture of Angus Young stands on the top of a stylised stage, somewhat like a bridge construction growing directly out of the pavement of the square. The copper surface is modelled with album’s names engraved, symbols and text fragments from AC/DC’s long musical career. On the top just beside the Angus Young sculpture there are placed some of his characteristic clothing items from the school uniform.

The plinth is strong enough to be climbed on. Even though it is not intended, it cannot be avoided that many AC/DC fans will crawl up, and be portrayed with their idol.

Angus Young is standing naked, just wearing boots, in a victorious posture with one hand reached out to the audience. The guitar is hiding the genitals. The hair is fluttering and you can see that the person is in motion. I have thought about giving him devil horn, with which he sometimes performs.

The statement of the rock-icon naked on a stylised stage plinth as a ‘highway’ to heaven is a set-up, that hasn’t been interpreted like this before and I think that exactly this presentation will make the sculpture interesting, also for people that have never heard of AC/DC or Angus Young.

Due to the design of the plinth the Angus Young sculpture will be accentuated and put to focus. So I can make the figure of him in natural size, and at the same time he will appear in the size that entitles him in the rock history.

Placement and lighting:

I have made the plinth to be in unison with the square in front of the Horsens theatre. I imagine it to stand with the back towards the road. So the figure will be pointing to the theatre, and the square that is often used for performance will not be diminished. At the same time curved form of the plinth will interact with the curved front of the theatre and the staircase.

But also a placement in front of the Horsens forum is viable with the present form.

I propose that we put up 2 or 3 spotlights to illuminate the sculpture. They may be placed rather far away so you can follow the light cone if there is some mist or rain in the air. It will make the illusion of the stage and appearance perfect. To increase the effect, we might programme some very slow colour shifts of the light, so the appearance of the sculpture will vary a lot at different times of the day and the night. We have plenty of experience with such equipment, so the sculpture will not be static, but will be pulsating in the public space.

Symbolism:

A sculpture as this allows a lot of different interpretations depending of the observer. But here just some suggestions:

- The plinth represents both the stage and the long time AC/DC have managed to remain on the top of rock music.

- I have chosen to portray Angus Young on a plinth looking like a stage that will reach out in the space and towards the observer to symbolise his extraordinarily good contact to the audience.

- The inscriptions and the clothes on the plinth depict examples of the textual and iconographical codes used by the band.

- The nudity is a symbol of the raw honesty and commitment that Angus Young represents in his guitar playing and in stage shows. But it is also a hint to art history with reference to Rodin’s portrait of Victor Hugo, where he exactly chooses to make the portrait of France’s biggest writer completely naked.

- The victorious posture is a symbol that Angus Young has become one of the world’s best and most famous guitarists.

Jens Galschiot, February 2010

Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense N

Tel.: +45 6618 4058 – E-mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk, Info: www.aidoh.dk