Hartigan's Colony

This is one of those things which I would swear was around on my familiar landscape a lot longer than it actually has been. That's the way memory goes, I guess. But Paul Hartigan's neon sculpture Colony has only been in place since 2004. It is the often-viewed sight, lit up in red on dark nights as my bus trundled up Symonds Street through the University Quarter, past the lecture lecture at the School of Engineering which is Colony's home. It basically means to me that I'm on my way home (except yesterday, when I photographed it, as I was still heading to research places and libraries, nearing the end of the day.)

It always struck me as resembling something like a bull figure, especially towards the left -- and if so, something like Picasso's work, Guernica. My mind, therefore, says silently as I pass it by, "Oh, there's the red neon broken-up bull."

So it's really called Colony, and not "bull-pieces". Something new for me to learn.