Mark Rees added the finishing touches to Odette this morning, one of two beautiful pieces combining body casts, marbles and glass beads on display in Coffee Angel on Brandon Terrace.
Café manager Chris Lynch recently chanced upon Rees's work in a Cumberland Street gallery, and – intrigued by the angelic connections – offered him a new venue in which to reach a new audience.
The hands and face of Odette are based on those of Rees's wife, but the inspiration for the pieces came from a conversation with Antony Gormley last year.
Gormley – famous, of course, for his Angel of the North – believes staunchly that we each have some kind of guardian angel watching over us. He, in turn, was influenced by the US artist George Segal (1924–2000), whose rather gloomy, monochrome plaster-casts are arguably less thought-provoking than Gormley's work and certainly less decoratively pleasing than Rees's.
Both Rees's works will remain in Coffee Angel during the Festival.
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