The Headington Shark is an unusual installation by sculptor John Buckley that features a shark crashing head-first through the roof of a home. Located at 2 New High Street in Headington, Oxford, England, the sculptural piece brings the comical fear of a Sharknado to life. Created in 1986 (long before the release of the Syfy television film) and renovated in 2007, the permanent installation still draws the entertained gaze of passersby.
Buckley’s surreal installation was inspired by the Nuclear Age and his own personal observations while on a trip in the Middle East. He began sketching images of sharks while walking along a coastal road in Egypt where he noticed both the sea, teeming with colorful marine life, and land, decorated with mountains of black rock. The artist says, “Some of the sketches I drew at this time were of sharks leaving the watery depths and cruising the landscape like predatory missiles.”
Top photo via: mrnormall
Photo credit: Margaret Stranks
Photo credit: Margaret Stranks
Photo credit: Margaret Stranks
Photo credit: allybeag
Photo credit: allybeag
Photo credit: Andy Hoag