The Top Ten

5 million people can’t be wrong- can they?

China’s life and culture website, sohu.com, opened the lines for everyone to vote on the “Top Ten Ugliest Sculptures in China of 2012” last August with 59 candidates vying for the honor. Nearly 4 months later, the votes were in- 4,983,916 of them, to be exact, and the “winners” were posted for all to see.

 

I’ve seen the finalists in this contest at http://arts.cul.sohu.com/s2012/chouloudiaosu/ and was fascinated. Some clearly deserved the honor, like the 20’ long mouse with stainless steel figures running along its wire at an “Electronics Computer City” and “Smoke Children” which appears to be a series of connected brightly colored blobs (the colors change every year). But some, like the graceful “Canal Mother” and a classical "The North Sea" piece mystify me.

What makes a public sculpture “ugly”? How did these pieces get there in the first place? What did their owners and artists think of the designation? Were/will any of them be removed?

Pointing disapproving fingers at unfortunate sculptures isn’t new. Just a quick googling will yield  “12 of the World's Ugliest Statues”,  “Ugliest Statues in Seattle,” etc.  As a matter of fact, a July 5, 1882 headline in the NY Times declared, “Ugly Statues in London- some of the Best and Worst of a Generally Bad Lot”.

But back to China and its disgraced sculptures.

Obviously, some of the sculptors weren't happy with their work’s designation, nor were the local councils who erected them in the first place.  But, obviously, those who had to live with them day by day weren't about to be blocked from having their say.

Bad art in a town makes the whole town look bad, according to some commentators.

What makes a sculpture ugly? I found it difficult to find a connecting thread, but some of the most common elements were abstraction, bright colors, and unusual materials. Some of the pieces were a bit too graphic for the public, like that of an old man being carried, balls out, by two women. It was called "Supporting the Old".  (All translations by google translator, so they may not be the most elegant phrasing possible.)

In a few cases, though, inappropriate placement was what got the work the nod.

 Will the pieces be removed? "Smoke Children" the colorful blob set in front of a hotel, has already been dismantled, though it's not clear whether that was a result of its inclusion in the contest or not. It had been raised during the 2010 Olympics, and may just have reached its "sell by" date. 

But the contest was successful in a broader way, according to the chief director of Sohu.com, which sponsored it.

"With the help of such events, we hope to present the current situation to the public and increase discussion on topics like city construction."   And the Committee's secretary-general Duan Xichen, added, "The event also made the public begin to pay attention to city sculptures and eventually make them beautiful."

Not mentioned is the fact that this event could be a real stimulus to future arts commissions to think closely about what works they place in public!

That's a worthy enough goal for any event, as far as I'm concerned, though I'd love to see an international contest for "The Top Ten Most Beautiful/ Powerful/ Thought-provoking" statues in the world.