This just in

I'm fascinated by the concept behind a sculpture that was installed in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland last month.
The reactions to the placement and content have been predictably controversial.
When I found out about "Him", the statue of Hitler at prayer, I wanted to know what was behind it.
Who conceived it?
Wat was he trying to say?
How did it end up in the Warsaw Ghetto?

 

I found that the artist Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist based in NYC is known as a satirist, and, as his entry in wikipedia points out, "his work seeks to highlight the incongruous nature of the world and our interventions within it no matter where they may lie."
This piece certainly does that.
Does a physical posture make a man good- or evil?
Are we certain Hitler didn't pray?
Is this a symbol of hypocrisy or repentance?
I found out that Poland's foremost rabbi who was consulted on the placement agreed that this was a worthy project because it made people question what they knew about the face of evil
But this isn't the only place the statue has been shown. It's been on display all over the world, including the Guggenheim in NYC.
"When people see this piece, they react with gasps, tears, disbelief. The impact is stunning," collector and Holocaust survivor Stefan Edlis told The Economist in 2009. "Politics aside, that is how you judge art.” 
For more info, check out:
http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=59818
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/12/should-maurizio-cattelans-hitler-pray-in-warsaw-ghetto.html#ixzz2GSVBLzu4

Sacrifice and decay

Who is Jerry Rubin, and why is he chained to a fence?
Why is he fasting for 10 weeks?
And what does all of this have to do with public sculpture?
I'm here to enlighten you, my friends, with a story straight out of our flower-powered past.
Seems that there's  an anti-nuke sculpture, designed by a political cartoonist in the early 90's standing near the Civic Center in Santa Monica.

(picture from the Santa Monica Patch)

Shaped like a mushroom cloud, it's made of chain links and is called, appropriately enough, "Chain Reaction" to protest the arms race when it was built. As a matter of fact, its inscription reads- "This is a statement of peace. May it never become an epitaph". A worthy hope indeed.
But time and wear have endangered the hope. According to the Lookout News, "The 22-year-old sculpture was deemed unsafe after structural engineers retained by the City found that many of the fasteners that attach the copper tubing chain to the fiberglass core were either missing, not fully embedded or exhibited severe corrosion. City Staff estimates that preserving the statue could cost anywhere from $227,372 to $423,172, and that there is no guarantee how long the repairs would last."
Enter Jerry Rubin (no- not that Jerry Rubin!), a peace activist, who feels that the council's refusal to fund repairs and threats to decommission the piece are a political tragedy. In order to rally the troops (and the cash needed) to fight the decisions, he has chained himself to the surrounding fence and will live on liquids only for 10 weeks.
I am thrilled that anyone cares that much about public art these days. The world, in fact, not all as bloodless as it seems any more.
Read all about it at:
http://santamonica.patch.com/articles/peace-activist-will-fast-to-save-anti-nuke-sculpture#photo-9023144

It's a rock, dad...

Remember the story of the King's new clothes? The kid who saw the royal altogether and named it for what it was nailed the absurdity of the situation.
Today I feel just like the clear-eyed kid...
Crowds from all over the LA area raced to see the new scultpure- "Levitated Mass"- installed at the LACMA after its 11 day journey from its home quarry to downtown Los Angeles. Along the way crowds cheered its progress and even held street parties to celebrate the massive boulder.
For that's what this 10 million dollar giant is.
A Rock.
A Boulder.
Perched on  a sluice way by solid (we all hope) struts so that people can- WALK UNDER IT!!!
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-lacmas-rock-opens-and-the-masses-descend-20120624,0,3184913.story
Michael Govan, LACMA's chief, gushed- As Michael [Heizer] said to me once, 'When do you get to see the bottoms of sculptures?"
Spare me.
Ever been in a cave, Mike? There are tons of nature's sculptures in them called stalactites that will hang over your head for free- and in the most amazing combinations!
And all over the world, from Zimbabwe to MA, you can see balanced rocks that have been there for centuries for free!
Yet Angelenos gawk and snap their cameras, documenting a change in their line of sight. It never occrued to many of these art-goers that they can change perception by moving their point of view. God bless us every one.
It's only a rock, dad....

Now you see it....

(Photo from HO/AP)

A fascinating story of sculpture, theft, and forgery hit the news from Greece this past week, and I await every episode eagerly.
It seems that two men, a goat herd and his friend, were found trying to pedal a 2,500 year old statue that officials said they had hidden in a goat pen. The piece was a female statue called a kore and was in pretty good condition for the type.
Greek Culture officials were thrilled. Experts were called in. The Goatherd was arrested- leading to headlines that were strangely reminiscent of ancient Greece- Priceless ancient Greek statue rescued from goat-pen; goatherd arrested.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1152988--priceless-ancient-greek-statue-rescued-from-goat-pen-goatherd-arrested
It was tagged at around $16 million.
But yesterday- alas- a blow to the gut. The piece is being called a forgery. The experts are red faced, and the goatherd's fate is uncertain.
More as things progress.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1155720--ancient-greek-statue-found-in-goat-pen-a-forgery

How do you brand a disaster?

Perhaps I'm a bit too cynical, but this story from Northern Ireland knocked me for a loop today.
A statue celebrating the Harland and Wolff Shipyard which built the Titanic was dedicated today. It features the workers from the era that built the famous ship.

(Photo from u.tv)

According to the sculptor, Ross Wilson,  "These Titanic yardmen are responsible for creating the most iconic ship in maritime history, through them history and myth are now riveted together. It was a dream for me to be the sculptor involved in this iconic community sculpture."
Now, I'm not an expert on all things Titanic, but from the reports I've read, the rivets that were analyzed from the ship were found to contain substandard materials. And of course there was the issue of a lack of lifeboats...
So to celebrate the shipyard's connection with one of the most tragic maritime disasters in human terms of the past century seems a little- well- de trop- as the French would say.
Why do it, then? That same shipyard made other, much more praiseworthy, vessels in its long history.
Why pick on the Titanic?
I believe it's celebrity, gang. The name of the 21st century is brand recognition and celebrity.
And this being the centennial of the famous disaster, it seemed only too easy to trade on Titano-mania...
See more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iKg5abr96vJTXjC5CC5ZSmP0UmZQ?docId=N0155781332936024551A

Product Placement

(Photo from Kingston Guardian, UK)

A story from the UK today about an aviation history memorial that's been sitting underground for years opens questions about the placement of corporate art when the corporation that bought it goes down the tubes.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/9608431.Sculpture__languishing__in_underground_car_park/
At least this piece is hanging up somewhere and hasn't been left to rust in a storage unit somewhere, but I was thinking about the topic of non-site-specific art and where it ends up as circumstances change.

Diagnosis on a 350 year old patient

(Photo from the Washington Post)

Scanning the news today, I hit the jackpot. The story from the Washington Post recounted the medical treatment of a 350 year old statue of Buddha that uncovered some startling internal discoveries.
What interested me more than the discovery itself, were the techniques that medicos from two sites in FL used in finding it.
And why.
The bodhi wasn't complaining of any malady.
A 2008 xray did show evidence of two masses in the body and head of the statue. The follow up CT, etc. took 3 years to schedule. (Hmmmmm).
Are x-rays of ancient statues routine? Mummies have them, but I wasn't aware of any protocol for other pieces of art. More to come on this fascinating topic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/buddha-goes-to-the-hospital-medical-scans-reveal-rare-documents-inside-17th-century-sculpture/2012/03/22/gIQADq96TS_story.html

Note: Because of ongoing comments problems on this site, please send all comments, questions, etc. to cassidy@stonepilgrim.com. Thanks!

An Equestrian at Last!

(Photo from http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/)

It's all come around again in a way.
When the four plinths that surround Trafalger Square in London were erected in the mid 19th century, two of them were meant to hold standing bronze guys and two were meant to hold equestrian  bronze guys. All went well until the money ran out, though, and for 150 years, the fourth plinth remained empty.
Then, in 1998, after a nudge by a reader of The Evening Standard and an art critic to install George III on the site, the Royal Society of Arts came up with the brilliant plan of using it for temporary sculptures by international artists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_plinth
Competition for the spot has been fierce ever since it opened with a tiny figure of Christ called "Ecce Homo"
The range of pieces has been amazing and controversial. The latest, installed last month, takes the plinth back to its original intent- in a way.
It now holds an equestrian piece (called Powerless Structure, Fig. 101) at last. But the equestrian is a young boy on a rocking horse. at 13 feet tall, it's hard to miss.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/23/sensitive-fragile-trafalgar-squre-fourth-plinth?newsfeed=true

Home runs and Ballpark Sculpture

 (Photo from sportressofblogitude.com)

OK, baseball fans- the new Marlins ballpark is ready, complete with one of the most elaborate ballpark sculptures in history. For those of you who are used to bronze homerun heroes guarding the gates of their home team, this piece in FL might come as something of a shock. It's BIG (74 feet!). It's garish. It's (as one observer said) "So Miami..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZch2jIMVtk

And, as it turns out, the kinetic piece by Red Grooms, a wildly colorful sculptor whose pieces have caused a ruckus from New York City to Denver, may be a hazard to the game.  According to sources, it may interfere with the sight-line of left handed batters...

That remains to be seen, but the home team has already been expressing its opinion. According Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald, "With the roof open and the wind blowing out, the Marlins peppered the "home run sculpture," the $2 million centerpiece of their new ballpark, with one metal-denting blast after another. That was batting practice, and it prompted catcher John Buck to remark that "it felt like you hit your dad or grandpa on the arm with a ball" — inflicting pain unintentionally, in other words.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/07/2444040/artist-rendering-of-marlins-sculpture.html

Sic transit.... and a note on format

 Today's story is a just few months old, but it reminds me of the Vichy destruction of statues during WWII.
Late in the 19th century, Paris was overtaken with "Statuemania"in which tons of bronze and marble went up around town to honor anyone who had cash and a little notoriety. When the war effort needed metal (some say it stayed in France, more say that Germany got the goods) in WWII, Vichy declared "off with their heads" to those works still standing without "artistic or historic merit". Of course, who made those decisions were pretty suspect.
And now- Russia has an interesting twist on the post Soviet corrupt race for fame.
Enjoy!
 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/11/20111126195854957412.html

Readers may have noticed a general change of format here on the Stone Pilgrim blog.
Because I've been slamming with so many other activities the past couple of years, I have tended not to post rather than just give a cursory overview of my topic.
Well, two things are happening.
1) My life is about to undergo a major change, allowing me to devote more of my time to my deep love of public sculpture. Within the next couple of years, I expect to wallow in Sculptural Assassination once again- especially since I've been running across some swell stories to include.
2) I want to get back in touch with the public sculpture news and one way of doing it is to post the links I find along the way.
So welcome back everyone- and enjoy!!!
Feel free to post comments...