1892 “Eros, a sculptural work by Alfred Gilbert, is now surrounded by the gaudy signs and sights of Piccadilly Circus”

HOLLY WILLIAMS  , LIAM O'BRIEN - From Eros to filling the fourth plinth: A crash course in public art

Saturday 10 August 2013

gaudy definition: extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/from-eros-to-filling-the-fourth-plinth-a-crash-course-in-public-art-8751074.html?origin=internalSearch

London: Guide to the world in Zones One to Six

SIMON CALDER  Sunday 13 January 2013

“The steps above ground at Piccadilly Circus are crowded – strewn with fast-food cast-offs and pocked with the grubby permanence of chewed gum. Hardly a suitable plinth for Eros – the statue at the heart of a city that, by some estimates, is capital of the world. Lovers of travel should descend instead on the opposite stairs, where the world opens up within the handsome circumference of Piccadilly Circus Tube station. It is the starting point for a great little railway journey that carves a slice through London, leading to the most expensive building in Europe.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/london-guide-to-the-world-in-zones-one-to-six-8449059.html?origin=internalSearch