Terminalcoffee discussion

Virtualtourist has compiled a list of the "Top 10 places with bad public art." Sadly they don't attach pictures of most of the art, so I'll help out. What do you think?

Mary Tyler Moore statue, Minneapolis.
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Forever Marilyn, Chicago (Seward Johnson)


Lifesaver, Duisberg, Germany


The Calling, Mark di Suvero, Milwaukee


Winkler Prins Monument, Amsterdam


Bewitched, Salem, Mass.


Caliope, Berkeley, CA


Magic Carpet Ride, Cardiff by the Sea, CA


Monument with Standing Beast, Jean Dubuffet, Chicago


They also mention the Cow Parade, which I agree was horrendous, loathesome and blightful.

I actually like the Dubuffet a lot and I don't understand why it made the list.

I also like a lot of Mark di Suvero's work, but that isn't one of his best.

I get the sense that the Winkler Prins monument is one that you have to see in its surroundings. I have a feeling it would look better from a different angle.

I think di Suvero looks much better in a rural setting. For example, two of his works in the Storm King sculpture park in New York:
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I'm surprised by the Dubuffet as well. I like it.

Some of these things are just reminders of a particular place's importance to pop culture, like the Mary Tyler Moore statue. I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, and I'm not sure that anyone is really being asked to assess it as "high art," per se.

The "Lifesaver" in Duisberg, Germany, however, definitely looks like art to me, and it's--wow!--really, really ugly. Do you know anything more about it? Maybe I'm missing something, but it's just hideous.

I'd never heard of Lifesaver before, or the sculptor, Niki de Saint Phalle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_de_...

"Niki enrolled at the prestigious Brearley School in New York City, but she was dismissed for painting fig leaves red on the school's statuary."

I hate that garish style in general. I can see Gaudi's influence, but not in a good way.

Niki de St. Phalle, I've heard of. She was a figure of some importance in the art world during the '60s and '70s, but more for her personality and relationships than for her work. I honestly couldn't have recognized the "Lifesaver" as hers.

I think the Bewitched statue In Salem is not only in (possible) bad taste due to the history of Salem and the witch trials, but it scared me. She looks like she is going to bite me.

The Monroe statue, well, oh my. I love the little boy who is leaning up against it. I am not sure what to say but I am curious to see what is below her shirt. It's simply hideous yet I can't stop looking at it. Why is she so tall?

The rest, to varying degrees, are ok to bleh.

Sorry....skirt, not shirt.

Up the skirt:



Should we inquire why the workman is wearing some type of gas mask?

That's in Chicago, LG? What has the public reaction been to it? Also, is it permanent or just a temporary installation?

Thank you, LG. I didn't mean to come off as a perv, but...geeze, it's a weird statue.

Jonathan wrote: "That's in Chicago, LG? What has the public reaction been to it? Also, is it permanent or just a temporary installation?"

Yes. It comes down in 2012, thankfully. I haven't been tracking "man on the street" reaction. I read an article about it when it first went up but I don't remember whether people were quoted as loving or hating it. That particular plaza gets a lot of really shitty public art, because it's so centrally located and so many tourists stream by.

That Bewitched one is just very badly made. No self-respecting sculptor could look at that face and think he/she did a very good job. The statue is supposed to be iconic; going into so much detail with the lines around the eyes and the teeth detracts rather than adds to it. Also, I do think it is in bad taste. The Salem trials should not be cute, kitschy tourist bait. Innocent people died.

Lifesaver looks like something from Xavier: Renegade Angel. Ugh.

Suefly wrote: "Thank you, LG. I didn't mean to come off as a perv, but...geeze, it's a weird statue."

You don't come off as a perv. Because the statue is so enormous, the only way a human can examine it is from the ground, looking up her skirt.

I'm wondering now if my tax money went to pay for this crap....I hope not.

Speaking of skirts:

I like that one^^

That Bewitched statue is just terrifying.

It would be cool to work in the office level with the bear's face.

I wonder what's inside that building. A store? Offices?

Public art that I love:

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Phoenix, AZ

Barb wrote: "I have no idea where this is, but it made me giggle.

"

Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

http://www.denver.org/what-to-do/muse...

Jonathan wrote: "The "Lifesaver" in Duisberg, Germany, however, definitely looks like art to me, and it's--wow!--really, really ugly. Do you know anything more about it? Maybe I'm missing something, but it's just hideous."

Dare I say I find it strangely compelling? In a loud, gaudy, in your face primitive kind of way. Don't want to think too much about what's going on there, but I've got to be honest. I like it.

(Well, someone had to!)

Barb wrote: "I have no idea where this is, but it made me giggle.

"



I LOVE this! Not sure I'd like to see it day in-day out but I think this is too cute!

janine wrote: "Speaking of skirts:
"



I'd like this much more on a small scale. It remixes my of Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride and some of Neil Gaiman's work, but on a larger scale.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Up the skirt:



Should we inquire why the workman is wearing some type of gas mask?"


'I see England, I see France, I see Marilyn's underpants.'

I can't help it, I have the mentality of a 10 year old.

I've walked by that big blue bear many times. My husband works a couple of blocks away from it. I actually like that one.

Most public art is hideous to me though. Especially modern art.

There's also this woman in a lake in Hamburg, Germany. (Alster Lake). I don't like it as art, but as public spectacle I guess it's kind of entertaining.

These (and a few more) outside the Qwest Center, down the street from where I live in Omaha, are not what I call art, either.

No.

The German one reminds me a little of the Planet of the Apes joke that appeared on Lake Mendota (University of Wisconsin) years ago.

That's pretty cool.

I thought so. Same guys who did it went on to create Mystery Science Theater. :)

Koeeoaddi wrote: "I thought so. Same guys who did it went on to create Mystery Science Theater. :)"

XD

That woman in Alster Lake creeps me out.

I've seen this in person at the Smithsonian and it just feels really kitschy. With so much art to choose from, both new and old, I don't know how they ended up with a giant typewriter eraser on the lawn.

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Washington, DC

Larry wrote: "These (and a few more) outside the Qwest Center, down the street from where I live in Omaha, are not what I call art, either.

"

I would call them lawn ornaments.

Koeeoaddi wrote: "The German one reminds me a little of the Planet of the Apes joke that appeared on Lake Mendota (University of Wisconsin) years ago.

"

They still do this every winter if the ice on the lake allows it.

Amber, I think this guy might be looking for his eraser:

The Awakening, J. Seward Johnson, Jr.

I can understand his angst. They don't make those erasers anymore.

Although I suppose it could also be attributed to the indignity of having his face used as makeshift playground equipment.

That was Claes Oldenburg's shtick. Is, I guess. I didn't realize he was still living. I agree it's at least somewhat kitschy. It doesn't bother me any more than Roy Lichtenstein's pop art, which I'm not a fan of.

The same sculpture garden with the eraser has quite a few of Lichtenstein's pieces too. The brushstroke and a house, and probably a few others.

Thankfully this enormous garish eyeball is gone from Chicago, where it sat prominently on State Street.