Iron Lady in Tinplate

UPDATE: Plenary 4-06-08: Caerphilly Labour AM Jeff Cuthbert told the Assembly: "It's clear that the image of the Iron Lady is rusting badly.
"I, of course, am quite opposed to such an image depicted in the principal building of Wales.
"But now clearly the corrosive nature of Margaret Thatcher is coming through to that public image is that going to be allowed to hang there for the full 12 weeks?"
Tory Assembly Commissioner William Graham (to a background of 'hear, hear'): "The impression you see is what was intended by the artist. The current installaton has resulted in extensive press coverage."

Who would ever have thunk it? A giant tinplate artwork featuring the image of the Iron Lady is staring out from the National Assembly across Cardiff Bay.
To be fair there is also a similar work depicting Labour icon Aneurin Bevan alongside to balance the political scales.
I know the Conservatives are enjoying something of a political renaissance in Wales, but really.
There was the argument that Margaret Thatcher did more to further the cause of devolution in Wales than Nye Bevan.
But that would serve only to incite petty rivalries of which there seemed a little as the works were unveiled.
UPDATE: Vale of Clwyd Labour AM Ann Jones protested: “I am extremely annoyed at the decision to display an image of a Conservative Prime Minister that did so much damage to Wales.
“Anuerin Bevan is rightly seen as hero in Welsh politics. He brought universal healthcare to this country and did more than any Conservative Government to help the people of Wales .
"I see no point in glorifying a political figure who rejected the idea of society and even called the miners of Wales ‘the enemy within’."The portraits measuring 4.3m x 3m have been cut into the sheets of tinplate by Cardiff-based artist Dylan Hammond. (Pictures here)
They will hang for 12 weeks against the glass facade overlooking Cardiff Bay in the first major visual art installation at the Senedd since its opening two years ago.
The project, which has taken five months to complete, has cross-party backing from AMs.
As presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas puts it: “If it provokes debate among ordinary people, that can only be good for Welsh democracy.”
Welsh historian John Davies said that few politicians did more to shape the Wales we live in.
“As architect of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan was a believer in socialism and the power of the collective,” he said. “Margaret Thatcher was a determined enemy of both but, for good or ill, she’s part of the story too.”
The artist reckoned the transparent facade of the Senedd, symbolic of open government, provided the creative impulse for the work.
“The images in my practice are monumental in the sense that they memorialise the dead and the living.
“The contained and reductive process of my drawing style gives way to the sparky unpredictability of the cutting.
“Paradoxically, the inert metal comes to life again through its own corrosion and decay, and the chaotic play of light on its surfaces.”
The tinplate came from Clayton Works in Pontarddulais where Hammond’s grandfather worked in the 1930s and 40s. Later this year, after 133 years, it will cease trading and be demolished.
Such a laid-back attitude to artwork has not always inhabited our AMs.
In 2000, a sculpture commemorating the anti-nuclear women protesters at Greenham Common women had to be removed from the public area at the Assembly after objections from the Conservatives.
Conservative chief whip at the time David Davies walked out of a debate in protest and the party group threatened to boycott a future debate if it was not removed.
Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne was rebuked by the presiding officer in those days for saying the anti-nuclear protesters were “deeply offensive to many people in the country”.
A Conservatives' spokesman said: “There need to be clear rules as to what can and cannot be displayed in the milling area.”