Many enlightened communities around the world dedicate a small budget percentage of new building or old restoration to including the creation or commission of a public work of art. As a society, we generally like the idea of art outside, whether it be in a sculpture garden (like the one at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC) or just a free-standing sculpture.
Recently, a commissioned work of public art in Boothby Square in Portland Maine has created controversy for residents there. The controversial work in question is by Massachusetts artist Shauna Gillies-Smith (an employee of Martha Schwartz Landscape Architects) and is a piece of landscape or environmental art that is supposed to be evocative of the waves and natural grasses of this coastal New England town.
Unfortunately, this work of public art is one that needs time to grow according to the Public Art Committee that chose the artwork that is made of serrated stainless steel and includes natural grasses. The Portland, Maine public has been told that they must be patient because the grasses need a couple of years to grow into their intended state. The problem with this idea is that it tells people how to imagine something to be beautiful that is not.
Perhaps the Public Art Committee has an obligation to the public who paid $135,000 (US) for the creative, design, and production fees of this piece of public art. If the Committee believes that the public art will grow into a work of art it should install interpretive signs with the artist’s rendering to help qualm fears of ugliness in an otherwise beautiful and historic town square.
The other part of this arrangement of public art that is creating controversy is the disconnect between the old and the new in the square.
In 2004, at the historic Pennsylvania Station in downtown Baltimore, Maryland the Municipal Arts Society chose a $750,000 sculpture by American sculptor Jonathan Borofsky to stand as a beacon outside the newly restored train station. True to form with much public art, citizens of Baltimore either love the sculpture or hate it.
A unifying theme of both the Gillies-Smith installation art and the Borofsky sculpture is that in both cases contemporary and modern art was chosen to sit in a location that has older and more historic roots. Perhaps this provides a good contrast for citizens, but perhaps it could be argued that the artworks were chosen out of context and that they are too jarring in their environment.
The reality is, when you purchase art that is for the public, the public will tell you what they think about it loudly, maybe not clearly. Perhaps the people who choose public art purchases and commissions need to consider context more thoroughly when making decisions, and to communicate their intentions more clearly. Or maybe it just has to grow on you.
