BS: Public art

Subject: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 12:09 PM

Today my wife and I (and Millie the dog obvs.) went down to Seaham, a small town near Sunderland in the North East of England, to see a statue that was made and placed there in 2014. It is made of iron, more than double life size, and depicts a seated First World War soldier, head bowed, hand holding his rifle. I think that it is wonderful. The detail is remarkable and the skill of its maker is, to my mind, awe inspiring.
Not far up the road (about ten miles) stands the Angel of the North. Another piece of public art which I find inspiring.
It seems that in this part of the world we are fairly lucky in this respect. my wife, being an artist and all, got to musing about the impetus for public art. Tommy had originally been intended as a six month installation before being sold, but local people and the council raised the funding necessary to buy it and make it permanent. So do communities need public art or is it just a nice optional extra? Can anyone recommend any other public art that they feel is deserving of notice? Tommy cost little in terms of public funding as much of the money was raised privately; but is public expenditure on art a legitimate use of tax money?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 12:34 PM

Google

building murals in Montreal

Worth a look.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 01:36 PM

Banksy, I love his work.. Amazing

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 01:57 PM

Well,I suppose any building that isn't actually a square box could be somewhere on the ladder of public art, most often quite near the bottom rung but occasionally sublime. A lot of public art, due to its grand scale, might not be too subtle in its intimate details but can be very striking, even inspiring. I take it you're thinking more of individual pieces rather than squares in cities, bridges or collections of buildings. There's the statue of Wenceslas on horseback in Prague's Wenceslas Square, hard by the spot where Jan Palach set fire to himself. I like that one, but then I'm a known vulgarian. On the new road junction just outside Barnstaple in Devon, on the big roundabout, there's a henge- like collection of massive standing slabs, supposedly a mock-up of a prehistoric monument. The locals don't like it because the stones are Cornish slate! That's just risible, but at least it gets people talking. There's the willow man ("the Angel of the South"), tearing his way towards the Westcountry, next to the M5 near Bridgwater. We love him, though the birds keep nicking bits of him for their nests. And bring on the Milton Keynes concrete cows!

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: gnu
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 02:44 PM

Public art is humanity. It is a tribute. It is inspiring. It is required. But, public expenditure on art is not a legitimate use of tax money. Such a concept is simply illogical.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Megan L
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 02:49 PM

the kelpies. This is near the Falkirk wheel

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 04:14 PM

I know the Barnstaple 'henge' (which made me laugh) and the wickerman, which I thought was temporary and would gradually fall apart but I assume it is regularly renovated. I also have a fondness for chalk hill carvings, like the Long Man of Wilmington, Cerne Abbas Giant (genitals and all!) and the Uffington White Horse, but I am not sure whether they are public art or ancient monuments, nor whether it matters.

I like the point about Banksy, perhaps his is the purest form. Public buildings are sometimes terrific and probably public art - I suppose it depends on how you define art; there are some who would reject anything the purpose of which was primarily utilitarian as art.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 04:43 PM

Statue of Lucille Ball in her hometown.

It looks nothing like her. It's public art.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: gnu
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 04:54 PM

I love Lucy. I loathe that statue.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 05:04 PM

Seattle (in the upper left corner of the United States) is rich with public art. Some samples HERE (and scroll down).

Seattle's public art tends to be abstract, and sometimes it spawns spin-offs in the form of private art. "The Hammering Man," shown in the link, has a little brother in front of a tavern (pub) in the University District. Instead of a man swinging a hammer, it shows a similar man lifting a bottle to his mouth. Both statues are animated (the arm with the hammer and the arm with the bottle both move slowly and rythmically).

In a plaza in front of the Seattle First National Bank building (a tall monolith, often referred to as "the box the Space Needle came in") there is a large, abstract form occupying a plinth. It's often referred to by local wags as "dinosaur droppings." The Space Needle (Seattle's answer to the Eifel Tower) is a legacy of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, which left many legacies, such as the Pacific Science Center, a large opera house (home of Seattle Opera, the fourth largest opera company in the U. S., and Pacific Northwest Ballet), plus several other theaters, home to several acting companies. In Seattle, if you can't find something of a cultural nature to do of an evening, you just ain't looking.

Often on Broadway Avenue on Capitol Hill, where Barbara and I live, one can often see people trying to follow the dance-step patterns inlaid in the sidewalk.

All this good stuff, in addition to spectacular views of Puget Sound, two mountain ranges, one to the east, the other to the west, and Mount Rainier towering above the landscape.

Beautiful place to live.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 06:13 PM

I actually strolled right round the Wilmington fellow, Brendan, about 25 years ago. It was a hot August day. I'd been to the 1066 battlefield that morning, and I was feeling positively medieval or earlier. Grand it was. I suppose that made it art in my mind at least. Does that count?

Dunno what "art" is, really. I like to think that it's something that needs, in its particular field, a lot more talent than I've got and a lot more imagination than I've got. Plus something a bit intangible on top. Something that rouses something in my head that has been dormant and inaccessible until now. Insight, inspiration, something like that. An enhancing thing. But, on a subjective level, I want it to be life-affirming. "I am the Walrus" doesn't make the cut for me. The willow man does.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 06:29 PM

There was a building downtown that had what looked like vertebrae sculptures. Are those still around, Don?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 06:42 PM

Could that be the one some call "dinosaur droppings" in front of the Seafirst building, across from the downtown library? Looks like it could be a vertebra....

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 06:46 PM

HAH!! I just remembered! The metal statue in front of the Blue Moon Tavern, patterned after the Hammering Man, is called "The Hammered Man."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 07:12 PM

And, then there is this one in Ottawa Canada?


Spider 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 07:16 PM

Well, maybe almost "art" (sorry Idaho).

potato 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 07:18 PM

Holy Cow!! I just discovered that the Blue Moon Tavern (my customary watering hole during my college days) rates a Wikipedia entry: Clicky.

I recall someone once saying that "on any given night there are more PhDs in the Blue Moon than on most college campuses."

Actually, one of my drinking buddies at the Blue Moon was science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle, before he moved to California and started writing science fiction (The Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, others….). I can honestly say that Jerry and I were going to the moon regularly, long before the Apollo program….

Don Firth

P. S. Okay, Firth, what the hell does this have to do with public art?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 08:01 PM

Going to the moon is mobile art.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 09:42 PM

I came across a song recently about the Angel of the North, but now I can't find it. Anybody know of the song? It's not this one but this one has great photos of the Angel. I think it was a song sung by Dave Webber and Ani Fentiman, but maybe it was sung by the couple traveling with them in the U.S.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 09:43 PM

don firth wrote -
in front of the Seattle First National Bank building (a tall monolith, often referred to as "the box the Space Needle came in") there is a large, abstract form occupying a plinth. It's often referred to by local wags as "dinosaur droppings."

Sydney has a controversial artwork called Poo on Sticks or more formally "Stones Against The Sky." It was made for the building behind, but I think it went up in the wrong place on the site so it lost the effect the sculptor planned, but putting it in front of the site made it very public & very (in)famous.

I can't believe there aren't lots more pics, they are a great base for pics of the sunset & the sun above or in the western sky. I stand behind them & just point my camera. It's on the corner of my street so I see it every day.

City of Sydney public art

Sydney's public art is a decidedly mixed bag, writes Stephen Lacey.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 10:34 PM

Speaking of public art in Seattle, let's not forget the troll under the Aurora Ave bridge. And the people waiting for a bus, which is continually being redecorated by the public.

Both of those are in the Fremont area, which is also home to my favorite music store, Dusty Strings.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 11:36 PM

Right, Guest, I forgot about the troll under the Aurora Ave. bridge—and the Sculpture Garden on Seattle's waterfront—plus whole batches of other stuff. But Seattle has such a wealth of public art….

It sounds like Sydney, also, is rich in public art.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Musket
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 02:28 AM

Dunno really when it comes to public art. Considering at a canvass level I wouldn't know a Picasso from a giraffe's arsehole, I start from a place of ignorance.

That said, I am entranced by and can't stop glancing at The Angel of The North when driving up the A1 and have spent ages staring at Henry Moore works in The Yorkshire Park. No idea why, and perhaps that's part of the pull?

I can see why noticing the odd Rodin when around Westminster can be a pull but some of the abstract "installations" in parks just seem to be taking the piss. Still, better than a statue of an alderman who was creaming his expenses as a councillor for thirty years I suppose.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 04:37 AM

I remember a song about the Angel of the North (AKA The Low Fell Flasher in local folklore proper) doing the rounds in North East folk clubs a decade or so back. Something like I'm the Gateshead Angel - to Geordieland I come - to fill your lives with heavenly grace - and give us lots of fun. I'm not sure how this relates to this monstrously brutally inhuman gew-gaw that so imposes on the landscape, but there you go.

When it was erected it was done so on the misunderstanding that it would be a source of revenue for the area but Gormley crushed that idea by banning the potentially lucrative market in miniature reproductions. Seems the artist takes it Very Seriously Indeed:

Antony Gormley: Morrison's Angel of the North stunt 'shocking and stupid'

One can't help but wonder what he'd make of the song...

A few years back I did an April Fool thread here about the Angel of the North moving to Blackpool. There, I think, it would look just lovely...

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 04:39 AM

Here you go:

Folklore : Angel of the North to Move to Blackpool

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 04:45 AM

Many years ago I stood on the Cerne Abbas giant's knob.

He never moved a muscle - not so much as a twitch.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 05:09 AM

I've heard say he weren't as well endowed in early days until his navel was incorporated into the overall scheme of things. Though when this was - who knows? I was always told he was anciently pagan, but now I hear he's no earlier than the 1600s...

As with the Gateshead Angel, I hear the nearby car-park is a local dogging hot-spot.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 06:51 AM

Odd that the large "tackle" fad is, like short hair and wearing ties in men, a relatively modern phenomenon. The Romans' art seldom showed men excessively endowed. And is Michelangelo's David any less a man for his modest loinage?

And no, this post does not carry sour grapes.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:08 AM

There is, of course, so much fine public art that it's hard to know where to start: from the St Mark's Horses in Venice to Nelson's Column to the Colosseum & Forum in Rome to the fountains in the Villa d'Este Gardens in Tivoli to the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Daley Plaza Picasso in Chicago to SF's Bay Bridge & Golden Gate to London's Albert Bridge to the American Radiator Building in Bryant Park NY to all the sculpture round the Piazza dllea Signoria & Ghiberti's Baptistry doors in Florence .... & all these are things I have been privileged enough actually to have seen with my own eyes. And one could go on & on & on.

But, while here, let's hear it for the London Eye. & shed a tear for the misfortune that Thomas Heatherwick's "B Of The Bang" installation for Manchester Commonwealth Games turned out to be hazardous [the spikes fell offr & could have killed someone if they had had the misfortune to be passing at the wrong time] and had to be dismantled -- one of the greatest while it lasted though!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:32 AM

Michael - thanks for drawing my attention to the Heatherwick scuplture. Because I have absolutely no interest in sport of any kind and therefore took no cognisance of the Manchester games, I actually hadn't heard of this piece. What a great sculpture - and what a shame it doesn't exist any longer.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:42 AM

A few years ago, a large statue of Glooscap was erected-but had to be adjusted-story is in the attachment.


Adjusted art 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 10:56 AM

'Modest loinage', I am definitely going to work that into a conversation in the near future!

I think that the vast array of magnificent public art says something positive about humanity and I also like the fact that much of it seems to inspire a whole spectrum of views from adoration to loathing. It is always possible to construct an intellectual defence of one's position regarding a work of art but I suspect that ultimately our response is more visceral than intellectual.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 11:02 AM

hmmm... so... my effort to restrain myself from reading the title as "Pubic art" was unnecessary....

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 12:11 PM

Public art? Jaysus, I may have to change a few things I wrote!

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 02:50 PM

The first sentence of my previous post was in response to a post from Steve Shaw which has inexplicably disappeared.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 04:23 PM

Oh, it's come back! Or am I going loopy?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 07:04 PM

One of my favorite public works of art is shown here dressed in one of many sets of costumes worn during the year.https://lynnrockets.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/kreiter_bruins-statues1_met.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 07:11 PM

Article about the ducks here.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 07:56 PM

Most public art around here is crap.

First, here are some of the best in my community:

Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. These photos, mostly taken by nonprofessionals, show how people have fun with it.

Vision of Peace by Carl Milles, in the St. Paul City Hall. It has an Indian theme, but the artist was not an Indian, so some people quibble about its authenticity, but I like it.

And here are two of the worst:

Something on the campus of Hamline University, done by a former art professor, I think. Ugly as sin, and meaningless. Nice garden, though. (I used to work in this building.)

Something in downtown Minneapolis. Maybe this doesn't qualify as "public art" since I suspect it's privately owned by the company located in the adjacent building, but it certainly is displayed in public. I used to ride by this every day on my way to work, and it always annoyed me. Two people inexplicably standing in a ridiculously unnatural pose, each holding his his/her left arm out horizontally, and jointly supporting a baby over their heads in their right hands. I wanted to yell: "You're gonna drop that kid!" A monument to irresponsible parenting. And these nudes don't even have attractive bodies.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:22 PM

Here's a whimsical statue that I like on the streets of Maastricht, Netherlands:

De Wiekeneer, by Frans Carlier.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:38 PM

Hmm. Crap, I suspect, can be in the eye of the beholder.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 10:25 PM

"Hmm. Crap, I suspect, can be in the eye of the beholder."

You ever been around lots of seagulls?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 10:25 PM

"Hmm. Crap, I suspect, can be in the eye of the beholder."

You ever been around lots of seagulls?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 11:36 PM

Got him in both eyes!

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:21 AM

If near the Chrysler Building, don't just look up at its famous tower, incomparable in its way as a perfect example of Art Deco, but go into the superb lobby, and take particular notice of the elevator doors.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 03:13 AM

Is it just me, or do others find that, however many dozens, or even hundreds, of pictures one might have seen, the actuality is so often more impressive than one expects? I have experienced this phenomenon in everything from Stonehenge, via the Wailing Wall and Botticelli's Primavera and Gaudi's Sagrada Famiglia and the St Petersburg & Moscow Metro stations and the facades of St Pancras & Antwerp & Milan stations and the Hollywood sign and the Euston Arch, to the Cambridge History Faculty building....

Do you find this ever?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Musket
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 03:36 AM

Yeah. Kate Bush.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Newport Boy
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 04:32 AM

I agree with MGM - most large artworks are more impressive in the flesh - photos rarely do them justice.

Speaking of flesh - there's Druva Mistry's fountain
The River in Birmingham. Rapidly renamed 'The Floozie in the Jacuzzi' by the locals.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 06:24 AM

There's a very well-known late self-portrait by Rembrandt which I'd seen images of in newspapers and on the internet for many years.

When I saw the real thing - close-up with no restrictions - at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, I was awestruck. It was even more wonderful than I'd imagined. And thanks to the Burrell curators for allowing the public to get up pretty close to it for a good eyeful.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 11:12 AM

way back in the 70s I saw a travelling exhibition of English portraits & seeing the more than life size portrait of a c1630s lady, rather than a half or qtr page image in a History of Costume book was almost overwhelming.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 11:24 AM

Don, Vertebrae is the sculpture at the SeaFirst building. You are correct. And FYI, as a silly gift Jean Smith gave my dad a small dinosaur coprolite - and dino droppings look just like many other animal droppings, not big chunky shapes like this sculpture. Just so you know. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:04 PM

Love this:

A memorial to the victims of the Liverpool Blitz of 1940-42

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:05 PM

Yep, that's the one. The "dinosaur droppings" wasn't my bit, I've heard others refer to it as that. And the Seafirst building--"The box the Space Needle came in...."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:29 PM

And then there's this:

Verity @ Ilfracombe - Damien Hirst

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:49 PM

And, this? 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 12:36 AM

How has that pseud Hirst pulled off the 'famous for being famous' trick?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 01:21 AM

By going [figuratively] to Bed with that ditto Emin, perhaps?

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Musket
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 02:31 AM

Or perhaps in the eyes of many people, they are artistic?

After all, you'd be amazed what some around here reckon is entertainment..

To be fair, I don't think he is particularly to my taste but like most on here, I haven't seen all his work. Just descriptions of a pickled cow and a photo of a rather well presented jewelled skull.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 03:57 AM

I'm not a believer in "conceptual art" - and I would describe Hirst as such - where the artist has the concept/idea, and other people do the work to make it exist. This is the norm in any sort of industrial design and manufacturing process, of course - and I'm probably just being old-fashioned - but I think art has to demonstrate something else, something more personal.

Still, he knows how to make money.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 05:29 AM

Recently there appeared a sculpture on Cleveleys beach (north of Blackpool) which I found initially irksome, but chanced by one day back in November and saw it, literally, in a different light.

Mary's Shell, Cleveleys

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 05:36 AM

I don't know what is and what isn't art, but, for me, I like to see what I think as art demonstrating a special talent, showing vision and articulating an idea that either isn't in my mind at all or which is inchoate at best. I'm not struck by stuff that has been chucked together, such as bedclothes or piles of white boxes, and I'm not keen on being shocked or disgusted. As life is such a vale of tears, I prefer art that is uplifting and life-affirming. As I type this I'm listening to a Beethoven piano trio. That sort of art. But that's just me. I have no right to regard mine as a better opinion of art than anyone else's.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 05:54 AM

Remember, à propos, the first stanza of Kipling's The Conundrum of the Workshops —

When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"

Ah, beware that bloody devil behind the leaves...

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 06:31 AM

I am in complete agreement with both Will Fly and Steve Shaw. I cannot go along with the idea of 'it's art because I say it is art' which seems to have held sway for too long in art circles. As Will points out, realising a concept is a practice that has been going on in design engineering for aeons. Is it not what every inventor does? I have been to exhibitions of work by Hirst, Emin and the Chapman brothers and my only response was irritation. On the other hand, I sat for about half an hour in the Rothko Gallery in Tate Modern and was profoundly moved. I do not know what, if anything, that proves but it underlines for me just how difficult it is to say what art is.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 04:54 AM

BrendanB: "I am in complete agreement with both Will Fly and Steve Shaw. I cannot go along with the idea of 'it's art because I say it is art' ..."

True! Art for therapy might be great therapy, but it might not be great art!...or art, at all....

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 05:28 AM

I cannot go along with the idea of 'it's art because I say it is art'

It's never a case of that though, is it? Art is carefully reviewed and critically monitored as part of an unbroken tradition which is obvious from the most casual glance around The Tate - or even the giftshop. The bounds of that experience have been incrementally evolving in the academic hotbeds for centuries, and there's always been a reactionary element calling it degenerate. Boldly, Art endures, and challenges, and bewilders. Long may it continue to do so.   

Public Art is different in that you don't have a choice about it. The Angel of the North is an imposition, likewise all the ghastly folksy wooden things you see in pretty much every public woodland space these days when I'm of the opinion that there really is nothing lovelier than a tree. I don't like Gormley's rusty blokes on the beach either, though I must say Hirst's Verity is genuinely intriguing in that it really does look pretty amazing standing down by the harbour entrance at Ilfracombe. But then again, my trips to Ilfracombe are few and far between..

Talking of folksy wooden things, my favourite ever piece of public art was The Upper Room by Colin Wilbourn which stood on the banks of the River Wear in Durham from 1988. First time I saw it was by moonlight, very drunk, so the effect was even more stunning:

The Upper Room

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 12:49 PM

Juneau, Alaska, has two pieces of statuary that are problematic. One is Nimbus, a rather strange but large piece of sheet metal that vaguely evokes the prow of a turquoise-colored ship. Artsy, it is not and it has had a difficult time finding a permanent home.

The other is a graceful bronze on the plaza of our Federal Building depicting four or five pelicans diving headfirst into a pool (currently dry). Nothing wrong with it other than Alaska doesn't have pelicans.

The story goes that the state of Alaska commissioned a bronze of eagles in flight. As it happened, legend tells us, Florida about the same time ordered statuary of pelicans. The forge mistakenly sent the eagles to Florida while the pelicans went to Alaska.

And Florida refused to give up the eagles. So we have pelicans.

Nimbus

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 03:29 PM

Frank Stella has a thing for immense steel sculptures, and over the years I've seen quite a few. The one my family enjoys and interacts with is Vortex, on the grounds of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The building itself is remarkable (Tadao Ando is the architect) but if they are closed, there is a lot to see outside. It doesn't take long for people to discover the incredible sounds that can be generated inside Stella's sculpture. We were alone as a family the first time we visited it and the kids made the discovery on their own. Other times you arrive and people are stomping and whooping up a racket so visitors figure it out that way.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 03:31 PM

'Art is carefully reviewed and critically monitored..'
But is it though? It seems to me that contemporary British artists work very closely with a small group of dealers and collectors who have an interest in ensuring prices stay high. I do not call any art degenerate, that's a word that has been levelled by some very questionable people. However, I wonder whether Hirst's spin pictures will enjoy the longevity of Caravaggio or Vermeer or any of hundreds of artists whose work defies time or fashion.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 07:24 PM

Wolf-Cheetah Unicorn! -girl 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 06:25 AM

Fair point, BrendanB - but by being of the moment all art aspires to the eternal! For me it doesn't get any better than the Sulawasie cave paintings...

Cave paintings change ideas about the origin of art

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 03:58 PM

SRS: "Frank Stella has a thing for immense steel sculptures, and over the years I've seen quite a few."

So are you going to write a protest/folk song about it????

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: BrendanB
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 04:34 PM

'By being of the moment all art aspires to the eternal'
I'm embarrassed to admit that I do not really know what that means.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 04:59 PM

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.

-William Blake

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Penny S.
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 06:27 PM

There is a new piece in Dulwich as a replacement for the Barbara Hepworth which was stolen by metal thieves. It's by Conrad Shawcross, and is related to harmonics. Part of the artist's work leading up to the piece was on display in the Dulwich gallery - a wooden contraption that turned arms with hinged arms with lights on the end, which moved chaotically.


Three Perpetual Chords

I was rather pleased to see this, and the way that people were interacting with the coils, and the way the artist was happy that they were doing so. I had been thinking, after being on a cruise up the coast of Norway, that there was far more public art over there than here, like this:
Fish lady , and we needed more.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 07:42 PM

Sacramento built an expensive new airport terminal a few years ago, and paid a lot of money for a sculpture of a red rabbit to decorate the place. People screamed about the cost and the absurdity of the rabbit, but now everybody seems to like him.
The new building is all silver and glass and terrazzo, and quite sterile in appearance. The rabbit adds a lot to it, once you get used to the idea of it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: olddude
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 08:12 PM

Am I the only Banksy lover? He is awesome

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 11:13 AM

We drove past the willow man on the M5 this morning and he's in decent nick. Sadly, since he went up years ago in green fields he's now become surrounded by faceless housing estates and a huge and remarkably ugly Morrisons depot. It seems to make his seeming haste and urgent pointing to the Westcountry all the more poignant.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Ed T
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 02:11 PM

Be warned-those tattoos, sometimes seen in public, is not art, and never will be.:)


Maybe mistaken as art-public at times 

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 04:00 PM

is not art, and never will be

Tattoos become more public as the weather warms up. I see them in terms of Folklore / Folk art, though I doubt any of the Folk Lords round here would agree because they're in no way quaintly folksy, rather they reflect the hopes, dreams, tastes and aspirations of real human beings. Mind you, the Worzel Gummidge we saw impressively rendered on the shapely calf of a young woman (who didn't look old enough to be legally tattooed let alone remember old Worzel) certainly hit the mark, but it was in (gulp!) Tewkesbury Morrisons...

I saw an Angel of the North tattoo once. Seems it's a common theme as a Google search will reveal:

Angel of the North Memorial Tattoo

I find that poignant as feck myself, but what would Gormley have to say???

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 04:56 PM

Another legacy from the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 is the Horiuchi mural, painted by local artist Paul Horiuchi for the fair. In addition to being "public art," it serves as a backdrop for a stage in front of a large grassy area that serves as an amphitheater. No seats, people can just stand around or sit on the grass.

This was the site of the Seattle Center Hootenannies on Wednesday evenings during summer of 1963. If the weather was inclement, the hootenanny moved into the nearby Center House which, among other things, boasted a large auditorium.

About a dozen of us would gather and sing separately or together for a couple of hours. These events were well attended and well received and on one Wednesday evening, we drew a crowd of 15,000. That many people applauding sounds a bit like surf!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Peter from seven stars link
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 05:45 PM

Did you see the banksy in bereut ruins , oldude ?.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: olddude
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 06:29 PM

No saw the one on the west bank with the girl jumping the fence

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 24 Apr 15 - 11:55 AM

Probably my mistake.....I was relying on memory !.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 15 - 12:33 PM

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
The most moving public art I've seen.

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 24 Apr 15 - 11:23 PM

Well, if you like seeing blood pouring out an old fort......


GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Apr 15 - 01:50 AM

Don, I remember that mural and that location. It is an iconic part of my childhood. That and the fountain full of jets that shoot water at irregular patterns and we used to race and squeal about getting delightfully soaked. I don't suppose that is still around, is it?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Public art
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Apr 15 - 01:40 PM

Yep! It's still there. They refurbished it back in the 90s and improved the nozzles…faucets? Spigots? Anyway, it's still there, being enjoyed the same way.

"Whee!!" (squealing and running)!!

Don Firth