Paul Dooley Sells His Fathers Liverpool Legacy-To The Highest Bidder-Shame On You Mr Dooley.

Does Paul Dooley give a damn really about the legacy that was left in his fathers Seel St studio

. It seems as soon as was possible he got in there and grabbed what he could.

It could be said that he owns it. But was it not held by a trust so that the Legacy of Arthur Dooley could have been kept alive.

It now seems it is at the mercy of speculators of which it looks like his son Paul, is one. He has been knocking out a load of......finished off stuff on Ebay since Alan Johnstons death, when there was nobody around to keep the collection together. 

When we say collection, what we really mean is a load of rejected stuff that was shoved into the studio/workshop when Arthur died in 1994.

The basement space had remained in tact since his death and it was hoped that something could be done to open it up to the public, as what happened in 2008 when The Liverpool Acadamy of Arts(sic) were awarded a £50,000 plus grant to further the memory of one of Liverpool's sons by opening it up to limited numbers of interested visitors.

They also made a packet by staging a selling exhibition of his work.

Although this exhibition did bring together an assemblage of his work so it could be seen, they were more than well paid for it.

We had tried to alert the public to the need to get together to do something about the threats from property developers who give Dooley junior access as soon as they could to alleviate themselves of the burden of the works.

So they could get in there and turn it into an apartment, no hold on a luxury apartment.

The whole of Liverpool is going to turn into a giant sterile flat with no character just shops and coffee bars selling frothy cappuccino's to snotty nosed kids who don't know the meaning of struggle or strife or hard work, that think that money just comes out of a hole in the wall, that will never understand what Liverpool was like in the post war blitz society who couldn't just pop to the nearest Tesco to buy food, because the shops didn't have any. We don't want to return to that time but this is an era that spawned Arthur Dooley, a tough working class hard drinking, hard punching Communist catholic of Irish decent.

That didn't disown the city like the others that buggered off to make their name, he stayed here and sweated it out.

 He was able to articulate his Liverpool language on a higher stage as he was often featured on the BBC, talking affectionately about how the city made him tick, how it was part of his soul. 

He hoped that his soul would be part of the city and he would leave behind something. It is said he was once short and asked the city council to take a sculpture in loo of unpaid rates at his workshop near Woolton and they refused.

So now his son Paul has got his grubby hands on a load of works, mostly half finished and rejected commissions, some of which that should not be sold as individual sculptures, but mostly rejected pieces that have now been polished up by Paul who it is said is a stonemason.

He is giving them attributions such as Hillsborough memorial that are not being questioned, but enhanced by middlemen auctioneer Adam Partridge who are only interested in the commission money.

Has he donated any work to any local institution? No.

Did he bugger off out of Liverpool at the earliest opinion? Yes.

Does he care about his fathers name? No, in our opinion.

Is all he is interested in money........well you decide.

Will Arthur be turning in his grave.

Paul Dooley J'accuse.  

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool- Is it good architecture, or bad?

After CNN voted it amongst the worst 10 buildings a local debate has raged. The new look "The Post" the new weekly version of the now defunct Daily Ghost asked Wayne to write 400 words for "The Debate" which he duly did, this was to go in the first ever publication
Then after time anda bit of time and effort, it was asked to be cropped to 200. Wayne was aware that he was being lined up to say he did not like the building so he never said what they wanted.
The 400 was cut to 200 and the promise was the whole 400 would be on the website.
They speak with forked tongue there at the new look, old methods, The Post. Just when you think they are getting into serious debate, they then revert to type.
 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2012/01/19/the-debate-liverpool-catholic-cathedral-is-it-really-an-ugly-building-video-99623-30151571/

So here are the actual 400 words that Wayne submitted;
I love modern architecture, but it’s hard to like this brutalist concrete upturned funnel, though I can’t agree it’s in the world’s worst 10 buildings.

Looking remarkably like The Cathedral of Brasilia, a hyperboloid structure designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1958. It immediately leaked like a giant colander. The architect Frederick Gibberd was sued. Structural problems were not resolved until the 1990’s. The mosaic tiles had to be replaced with glass-reinforced plastic!
Jerry built, was the term, often used to describe its construction. Is it still a structural time bomb?
The outspoken and highly intelligent ecclesiastical sculptor Arthur Dooley coined the term Paddy’s Wigwam.
It sums up the 60’s, as a now outdated architecturally futurist fantasy, that at times went horribly wrong.
When tried and tested methods of construction, bent the given laws of logic to, sometimes, severe and often detrimental effect.
European funding was recently spent on its so-called realignment with Hope Street while next door, the Wellington Rooms, one of our historic gems, is derelict and sadly ignored.
Always meant to compete with the majesty of Giles Gilbert Scott’s Anglican Cathedral, it does so only by being architecturally impertinent and the use of shock effect.
Like a noisy little mongrel, barking at a graceful distinguished pedigree.
It dates from a time of religious conflict when children played football in the streets, Protestants verses Catholics.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who submitted a design for the Anglican Cathedral competition, once said 'There is hope in honest error, but none in the icy cold perfection of the mere stylist.'
The original Lutyens design was meant to be a rival to St Peter’s in Rome. He only managed the building of the Crypt before the outbreak of war, and then in the 60’s the cut-price colander idea came along.
No doubt it was sold to the public as being Iconic.
Liverpudlian’s are often defensive, of their own, but CNN have sparked off a debate that if entered into will give us more understanding of our public realm.
It’s not a good idea to risk your future by disrespecting your architectural inheritance.
Now loved by many who are proud to have two Cathedrals in the City, people now seem to have got used to it. Does that mean it’s good architecture?
Lutyens original design model is in the new Museum of Liverpool, now that is, a building that should be in the world’s worst top 10.

Peace Monument Unveiled For John Lennons 70th Birthday-Give Bad Sculpture A Chance.

Any Old Iron- Liverpool European Capital of Bad Beatles Statues. It has to be said.

The tradition was upheld with the unveiling of another naff piece of junk this Saturday.

The unveiling was done by Julien and Cynthia, who understandably had a difficult day holding back the emotions. John Lennon is and was an amazing person and an inspiration, who was able to think out of the box, not to be drawn in by what was being told to him, not believing people selling you rubbish, never accepting the status quo.  Educated in the university of life he must be turning in his grave with the naff tributes to him that now litter the streets of Liverpool. The Four Lads who made me cry on the Hard Days Night Hotel, George Harrison looks like Gandolf from Lord of the Rings. Rod Holmes the head man of Grosvenor was there, I saw him on Sky, it went all round the world. Uncle Joe Anderson was there saying how great it was, what does he know of style over spin, what does he know of good public art. The builder of Chavasse Lawn, Grosvenor, the pseudo park 40 feet in the air, that has now been dug up and relaid where water is streaming down the steps because of its inferior design and its jerry-built lack of quality love this sculpture and how it gets them attention. Grosvenor would not put a tribute to Captain Chavasse V.C and Bar, instead they have gone for the obvious, give them what they want, naffness.
Captain Chavasse would maybe approve in one way, with te sentiment, Give Peace a Chance as he was killed in action in a First World War that killed millions, but there is no substitute for inferior workmanship and bad design. When it comes to public monuments and Tom Murphy did a botoxed version of the great man Captain Chavasse, that now doesn't have a home, on the off chance he could knock it in to Grosvenor, with the help of his personal PR man, David Charters of the Daily Ghost, his bessie mate, who wouldnt know a decent statue if one fell on him. There is something the people who make the decisions on Liverpool's public art have no or little understanding of......quality.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/rod-holmes-came-in-my-shop-today.html   

It is a scandal that we have the worst Beatles monuments in the world while Madryn Street Ringos birthplace, is being bulldozed. This is a city that knocked down the Cavern Club, just before calling itself Beatles City and turns its World Heritage Site into Milton Keynes-On-Sea. One thing is good they didn't let Tom Murphy the pudding maker of the John Lennon Turkey at the John Lennon Airport do this one. Why not just call us Lennonpool and be done with it? Thanks to Correspondent in regularly pointing out the fact that we don't just have the Beatles. pic Chavasse Park being repaired after 1 year http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/10/statement-from-lennonpool-city-council.html Stop Press at Oldham Hall Street..............At the Shanghai Expo, The Scaffold are reforming (Mike McCartney should be on one) http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/mike-mccartney-professional-scouser-and.html  on October the 16th to impress those big investors that we are still all Lilly the Pink in Lennonpool.  http://profchucklebuttychronic.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-330k-for-liverpool-day-at.html

Catherine Jones the Daily Dimwits intrepid, err, journalist covering the monumental Lennon Give Bad Sculpture A Chance event covered the Ken Dodd one also.

The last big unveiling was of a Tom Murphy was Ken Dodd with a kebab in his hand at Lime Street Station and Bessie Braddocks, a sack with a head on it.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liverpool-european-capital-ofbad.html Tom Murphy, Liverpools finest, yes that is how bad things have become. Neil Scales of Merseytravel who cut up the U-534 commissioned it. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/u-534-cut-up-into-five-pieces-by-neil.html

David Backyard the architect of Cavern Walks said to me his one regret was commissioning the Beatles Statue inside it. Just who put the one of Elvis in Mathew Street. I like Arthur Dooleys the Four Lads Who Shook The World  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/arthur-dooley-remember-him.html and instead of saving his studio and honouring him the city leaders follow the crowd and give them what they want......Bad Beatles Sculpture......Any Old Iron.