Just noticed
Yesterday I was strolling Little Junes through the quad at American University and we stopped to look at the "Seurat" elephant sculpture by Sam Gilliam which is one of the "Party Animals" public art projects that the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities did a few years ago. As you may recall, artists painted a couple of hundred donkeys and elephant statues which are now all over the city.
The Gilliam elephant is right in front of the School of History building at AU and the poor beast is falling apart. I don't know if this is happening to any of the other "party animals" sculptures (or the similar panda project), but the elephant is riddled with surface cracks, as it appears that the elements have won the battle with the finishing element of the fabrication and the sculpture is cracking all over the place.
A Connie Slack panda across the quad seems to be in good shape, although if I remember right, the "party animals" preceded the pandas. But now I wonder if any other of these outdoor pieces are showing the effects of the DMV's severe weather extremes.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I am sure most of the "Party Animals" and other versions of this fundraising scheme for good causes (full disclosure: I worked on the "Fish" in Baltimore ten or so years ago) installed outside as "public art" are going to be suffering. I think Cy Katzen bought at least a dozen and placed them around the AU campus. The ones placed indoors are doing fine.
Maintenance is always the elephant in the room when Public Art is commissioned.
Post a Comment