What’s free, indispensable to city life, lifts up humanity, challenges the individual, humanizes the environment, offers a nexus for gatherings, and often tends to cause controversy?
Nexus?
That’s just a fancy pants word for ‘a means of connection; a link or tie.’
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Okay, what if I said Cloud Gate, Banksy, Stonehenge, Nanas of Niki de Saint Phalle, Fountain of Virtues, Angel of the North, Pyramids, and Fremont Troll?
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It’s just a riddle. No need for you Type A's to freak! Think monuments, memorials, murals, mimes, and magic/mischief.
Okay, maybe a few pictures will help.
A type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture.
An object which serves as a focus for remembering something, usually a person (who has died) or an event.
Someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech.
Any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface.
To tickle one's fancy. That's my definition. Sorry Webster.
PUBLIC ART is free (at least for those on the viewing end), indispensable to city life, lifts up humanity, challenges the individual, humanizes the environment, offers a nexus for gatherings, and often tends to cause controversy.
I can't live without it! Which is probably why I'm drawn to take so many pictures of public art. Yes, I do have a tendency to take more pictures than most, but that's an entirely different post.
Public art has been around since man began walking upright, a reliable record of mankind’s time and place and artistic voice. Think ancient hieroglyphics, Egypt’s Pyramids, England’s Stonehenge, Ireland’s Newgrange, the Great Sphynx at Giza, Easter Island’s moai, Mexico’s Chichen Itza. So many places; so little time.!
Horatio must have inspired Picasso. To quote Picasso, “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.”
Of course it is when you’re a Cubist! No, I’m not saying Picasso is a ‘square,’ although in 1967 Chicagoans might have used that term, and a few more I can't mention here, when the first monumental Modern sculpture to be placed in Chicago's business 'Loop' was unveiled.
Ah, ha! Perhaps Picasso did his homework after all. Kudos from this retired teacher!
Picasso’s gift to the city of Chicago (he refused the $100,000 commission) has become one of Chicago’s most famous and beloved icons; and the inspiration for over 100 pieces of public art that have followed in its wake.
I say, whatever adds richness to the experience of being alive is art.
Jimmy and I have seen and had a few rich ‘experiences’ of our own when it comes to public art and travel. Bet you were wondering when the travel part of today's post would show up, huh?
Really, I see no other way to freely lift humanity, challenge the individual, humanize the environment, cause controversy and otherwise offer a nexus for gathering.
I'm really feeling a connection with the word nexus!