90FT NUDE WOMAN LOOMS OVER DUNDEE

Monster maid our Angel of the North

By Richard Elias – The Daily Record

March 13, 2006

SCOTLAND -- A 90-foot tall naked steel woman is set to tower over Dundee.

Called the Bio-Colossus, she'll be the centrepiece of a £200million redevelopment of the university campus.

The monster maiden is already being called Scotland's answer to the Angel of the North, the iconic statue near Gateshead.

If planners give the six-figure project the OK, the statue could be in place by next year.

Bio-Colossus is the brainchild of Fife-based artist David Mach.

He has already left his mark with the "Big Heids" sculptures seen from the M8 near Mossend.

Mach will this week unveil a scaled-down version of his steel woman at an arts exhibition in the city.

He's already seen a similar plan kicked into touch when worthies in Belfast buckled to pressure from church leaders and ruled the Bio-Colossus was "inappropriate" because of the nudity.

And the Dundee move could still spark controversy. West End community council chairwoman Wendy Wrieden said: "I have yet to be convinced that this will enhance the environment.

"I feel that the money could be better spent."

However, others feel the project would attract extra visitors and raise Dundee's status among art lovers.

Geoff Ward, deputy principal of Dundee Uni, said: "The statue is fabulous, mind-blowing and absolutely the sort of work we should be supporting.

"She is not pornographic, but she is curvaceous and very much a real woman."

Carol Pope, the university's director of communications said: "There is this great concept of it becoming an Angel of the North."

Meanwhile, Shona Main, a one-time member of the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, said the idea was "incredibly brave".

Shona said: "It is just really quite special that this great colossus is going to be a woman and a voluptuous woman at that."

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