Gormley's Angel of the North is probably best described as 'A gew-gaw off Stalin's mantelpiece' - or 'The Gateshead Flasher'; it's a monstrous piece of of mediocre post-modernism foisted on the people of the culturally impoverished North-East in an act of supreme paternalism. They have to a man (& a woman) supposedly taken it to their hearts; it has even found its way into a Folk Song to be heard around the North-East clubs:

For I'm the Gateshead Angel,
To Geordie-land I come;
To Fill the place with heavenly grace -
And add a touch of fun.