Let's put mosaics and ceramic murals on the public art table. For permanent, community-based public art - nothing is better. And as a very beautiful artform in the hands of experts and craftspeople. You can visit and walk-on Roman mosaics almost 2,000 years old. The tiles of Persians, the Ottomans and other Asian Islamic cultures glow with the blues and greens and reds in the 500 year old … [Read more...]
Public Art images from the Week
Friend me at https://www.facebook.com/glenn.weiss.100 to follow the public art images. … [Read more...]
Kara Walker Tangent: Remember Fred Wilson
The sugar baby is not public art. I am stubbornly holding onto the idea that an essential part of the definition of "public art" is the capacity for any person to stumble across the work in accessible public space. Once the art is locked inside a structure, the key element of the "any person" disappears. And more importantly it loses it's power as a threat or collaborator to public … [Read more...]
Best of the Week in Public Art
Friend me at glenn.weiss.100 for the originals in real time. Two best finds of the week are the giant mural in Syria complete this year in the middle of the war and the Smokey Hollow Memorial to the African American Community that was demolished in the late 1960s. Most popular this week is the Edmonton, Canada, pavilion by Marc … [Read more...]
Public Art Images from the Week
Friend me at https://www.facebook.com/glenn.weiss.100 … [Read more...]
Round-up of Articles on Kara Walker’s sugar baby
First: Kara Walker's sugar baby is NOT public art. It is big sculpture. To qualify as public art, the work must be accidentally available to any person in real space. The best public art engages a public space that is truly owned and protected by a community of people. Once behind the walls - like a strip club - the vast public allows anything as long as the establishment does not attract … [Read more...]
Public Art Images from the Week
Images posted on www.facebook.com/glenn.weiss.100 Ask to friend me. … [Read more...]
Mobile Art, ELMO and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
If in London, the don't forget to tour the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the Public Art. In September for one weekend, all the mobile art vehicles will set-up shop. ‘PORTABILITY: ART ON THE MOVE’ Celebrating the extraordinary world of mobile art vehicles in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 20th – 21st September, 2014 For the first time in the UK, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is … [Read more...]
Brian Miller: World’s FIRST town artist. 1962
Thanks to Gar Dunlap for the correction. Brian Miller may be the world's first town artist. He served the Scottish New Town of Cumbernauld. From THE FORGOTTEN PUBLIC ART OF CUMBERNAULD by Neville Rae For twenty eight years starting in 1962, Brian Miller worked as Cumbernauld’s first, and only, town artist. After initial doubts over which department he should be placed in, he was employed … [Read more...]
David Harding: The World’s Second Town Artist
I am surprised about the lack of public artists, administrators and academics that don't know the work of David Harding in 1968-78. For eight years, he served as the "Town Artist" for the Scottish new town of Glenrothes. Harding is still practicing as an artist and has published some of his memoirs on the Glenrothes work. The memoir is here: www.davidharding.net Harding was followed by … [Read more...]
Kara Walker Tangents: Sexual Sphinx
As I considered Walkers' sugar baby, I wanted to know about sphinx sculpture in general. I was very surprised to learn the 17-18th century feminization of the sphinx with a subtle dose of sexuality in Europe. In the ancient times, the memorable sphinx's are male with a sense of pride and self-importance, not sex. The great sphinx at Giza Egypt fools the memory as a female with its head dress … [Read more...]
We have the best public art of 2014 – Kara Walker
So Kara Walker's "A Subtlety" has been declared the best public artwork of 2014. BUT at the moment it is NOT public art. Buried in the Domino Sugar factory the work does endure the same public examination that Sofia Maldonado's 42nd Street murals suffered with public calls for removal and a serious debate about media images of African-Americans in 2010. Move the Sugar Baby to TIMES … [Read more...]