# Shockingly Ugly Public Art **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789 "2008-11-14T23:57:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/61 "2008-11-17T13:41:38Z")
Thankfully I only had to walk by this once, yet I was so fascinated I couldn’t help but walk in: In downtown Orlando there’s a plaza/mall built on Burtonesque Fascist proportions where you feel you’re just an ant or a child, although it’s only about 50% Bauhaus/concrete modernist otherwise. Outside, and in the entrance, somewhat incongrously are 4 or 5 bronze-esque statues in more of a lat 19th-century style, but with the bases only halfway carved as if they were jumping out of the “rock”. (They were finely detailed enough that they would have seemed more in place in a rococo or art nouveau place.) It only seemed a creepier place because there are only 2 stores operating in that breezy place so far. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/62 "2008-11-17T14:28:50Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > There’s [this statue of Quetzalcoatl](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/41/San_Jose_Plumed_Serpent.JPG) in San Jose, CA. Up close it’s nicely textured, but if you drive by it looks like a steaming pile from a distance. I’ve heard rumors the artist was pissed at the city and did it on purpose. > While the coiled-snake depiction of the plumed serpent of Mesoamerican religion is not [unprecedented](http://www.metahistory.org/images/QuetzalcoatlSculpture.jpg), he’s normally much [more](http://religion.mrugala.net/Ameriques/Quetzalcoatl.jpg) [badass](http://www.redicecreations.com/winterwonderland/quetzalcoatl1.jpg). I was there when that thing was unveiled. It _was_ done on purpose. The artist (he says) was taken by a description he’d read somewhere of serpents “like a coil of excrement.” Doesn’t mean he wasn’t also thumbing his nose at the city. Either way it is ugly, and the public reception was lukewarm. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/63 "2008-11-17T17:40:22Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I\ > Either way it is ugly, and the public reception was lukewarm. That’s an excellent description of the public reception of most high-concept artwork. Lukewarm, with a smattering of “Oh God, what the hell is THAT?” The more I learn about designers/artists, the more I think they should be kept away from the public and have all their high-concept stuff interpreted through someone who makes them public-friendly. Sort of like the difference between runway fashions and what actually shows up in the mall. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/64 "2008-11-17T18:43:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Damn it, I was down there and never saw that. My sister lives in Dublin (Ohio). It was the first thing they took me to see – Dublin’s big claim to fame. They are all unnaturally proud of their corn in Dublin, IMHO The other locals were delighted to have a giant corn tourist from so far away as Florida. Clearly, they’d never been [Weeki Wachee.](http://weekiwachee.com/photo/?&MMN_position=14:14) I think Florida is the Master of Roadside Kitsch. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/65 "2008-11-17T19:10:15Z")
The Kansas City [Hair Curlers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:4947429_2686694e14.jpg) help clutter up an already trashy skyline. Many locals are real proud of this. I just can’t see why. The pieces are ugly. Two are almost identical. Theme-wise one looks like it isn’t in any way connected to the others Did I mention that they are ugly? As a building ornament they are too big. As a Cityscape enhancement they are too small. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/66 "2008-11-17T21:35:30Z")
I can’t find a good picture, but my campus, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, has a history of absolutely idiotuart being put on permanent public display. Which is ironic, because the art program has very good, if eclectic, taste. The temporary galleries are often fascinating and even exciting. Exhibit A is a Greek Trireme model, with a pair of bronze legs sticking out over the top, a bronze moon symbol, and some horns. No one at the art department has idea what this is or why it was made, or if it was intended to communicate anything at all. Exhibit B is a sort of metal T. We’re not sure it it was supposed to symbolize UT(which often uses a T) or was just a random shape. Basically, it is utterly pointless, a simple hunk of heavy metal. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/67 "2008-11-17T21:58:11Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Either way it is ugly, and the public reception was lukewarm. I took an anthropology class when I was an undergrad called Born Again Religion where we read about this statue. Apparently a group of fundie Christians took great offense to the idea of a “demon idol” being placed in a public space. There were two actual born again Christians in the class, who were pretty cool in general (I went to a hippie school where there were probably more Buddhists or pagans than evangelicals, so it wasn’t really a super friendly atmosphere for them), but the class discussion on this topic was the most heated we ever had. One of the Christian girls was in tears by the end of the class period. So, it wasn’t a lukewarm reception for _some_ people. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/68 "2008-11-17T23:00:44Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > How about anything and everything created by Richard Serra? What a fucking scam artist. > > [Google Search](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=richard+serra&gbv=2) Heh. I knew from the style that he must be the one behind the sculpture by Princeton’s E-quad. > **[Google Search](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=richard+serra+hedgehog+and+the+fox&gbv=2)** It freaks me out because if you walk and have people come at you from either end, there’s no way out. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sonnenstrahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/69 "2008-11-17T23:28:01Z")
The first time I saw the [“Night is for sleeping, day is for resting”](http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/345213151_8df6aec08e.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/petermacmurchy/345213151/&usg=__uqIFZMqZjH5rH3RJMIPlB4ZXrUM=&h=375&w=500&sz=156&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=iwW5iD61rfug0M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvictoria%2Bnight%2Bis%2Bfor%2Bsleeping%2Bday%2Bis%2Bfor%2Bresting%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) sign in Victoria (not my picture), I thought it was an ad for a hotel. Then I found out it was art. Kind of sums up Victoria, land of the civil servants and the senior citizens, though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/70 "2008-11-17T23:47:39Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > This, except that your link doesn’t work and I have no idea what the Indo Arch is. Huh, works for me–here,[try this one.](http://www.tommyersphotography.com/detail.asp?PhotoID=1513&CtgryID=51&Child=) Alternately, here’s the google image result for [“indo arch sacramento.”](http://images.google.com/images?q=indo%20arch%20sacramento&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) Richard Serra should never have quit his day job, I think we’d all be better off. Now, his “work” strikes me as being exactly what happens when you have funding for public art but everybody’s too afraid of pissing people off–you get some emperor’s tailor coming in with some big amorphous chunk of metal that is obviously not useful, but is also not controversial. Something that people will shrug and say “eh, what can ya do?” but otherwise not freak out over. I prefer the Poop Snake, at least it’s saying SOMETHING, even if nobody likes the message! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/71 "2008-11-18T03:16:09Z")
> [@Rosie\_is\_Tired](#): > > Carnegie Mellon University has this lovely thing. They didn’t even have the decency to try and hide it; it is very clear from the bus that goes past CMU on the way to Squirrel Hill. > [http://lh5.ggpht.com/\_RmA2hopg-mA/SAq0Cf2REqI/AAAAAAAAC\_E/tyn11ELX6hc/IMG\_0565.jpg](http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RmA2hopg-mA/SAq0Cf2REqI/AAAAAAAAC_E/tyn11ELX6hc/IMG_0565.jpg) > > (couldn’t find a much better pic) Holy crud! When did they put that silly thing in? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/72 "2008-11-18T03:28:46Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Huh, works for me–here,[try this one.](http://www.tommyersphotography.com/detail.asp?PhotoID=1513&CtgryID=51&Child=) Alternately, here’s the google image result for [“indo arch sacramento.”](http://images.google.com/images?q=indo%20arch%20sacramento&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) > > Richard Serra should never have quit his day job, I think we’d all be better off. Now, his “work” strikes me as being exactly what happens when you have funding for public art but everybody’s too afraid of pissing people off–you get some emperor’s tailor coming in with some big amorphous chunk of metal that is obviously not useful, but is also not controversial. Something that people will shrug and say “eh, what can ya do?” but otherwise not freak out over. I prefer the Poop Snake, at least it’s saying SOMETHING, even if nobody likes the message! My God, are those\*\*\* testicles\*\*\*!?! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/73 "2008-11-18T03:56:46Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > How about anything and everything created by Richard Serra? What a fucking scam artist. > > [Google Search](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=richard+serra&gbv=2) I think St. Louis might have gotten the worst of Serra’s works. The one in St. Louis is, I just learned, called “Twain”. But everyone refers to it as “The Serra Sculpture”. It is eight giant, now corroded, slabs of steel arranged in a near-triangle. The slabs are not curved, shaped, or in any way interesting, They’re just big steel panels. Here are two views: [ground level](http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/19eb5c35-f09e-4084-931d-ce7fe731f147.jpg); [aerial](http://bp0.blogger.com/_YCGKh3GjtVs/Rzd3NyyYXKI/AAAAAAAABCY/LrkhmO6esNg/s1600-h/4%3D%3D%3D.jpg). It is large, I will give it that. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/74 "2008-11-18T05:05:58Z")
> [@chacoguy420](#): > > My God, are those\*\*\* testicles\*\*\*!?! See now, the funny thing is that the majority of people objected to the Indo Arch because they thought it was invoking lady genitalia! Just goes to show you that a whole lot of art is in the interpretation of the viewer, huh? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/75 "2008-11-18T09:28:59Z")
I like the OP one too. A lot of the other ones are boring, but not truly ugly. They look like the typical stuff you see around college campuses and on hospital lawns. Just because you can find a few large pieces of metal and weld them together does not make it art! The pink island thing however, is truly awful. It makes me feel a little bit ill. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/76 "2008-11-18T15:16:43Z")
I give you [Brushstrokes in Flight](http://www.port-columbus.com/passenger/art/) at the Port Columbus Airport (Columbus, Ohio). MeanJoe ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/77 "2008-11-18T17:18:09Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > I give you [Brushstrokes in Flight](http://www.port-columbus.com/passenger/art/) at the Port Columbus Airport (Columbus, Ohio). “Easy to spot”, eh! I’ll say. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/78 "2008-11-18T17:58:54Z")
Well, if you’re thinking ugly airport art, how about art so ugly [it shows up on FailBlog?](http://failblog.org/2008/09/11/statue-fail-3/?cp=2) (Warning: Rated PG.) The picture is from Oslo’s Gardermoen airport. It’s actually one of a series of statues, one of which is at the train station downtown near the platform for airport trains. Nicknamed “the Viagra ads”. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/79 "2008-11-18T18:56:44Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I think St. Louis might have gotten the worst of Serra’s works. The one in St. Louis is, I just learned, called “Twain”. But everyone refers to it as “The Serra Sculpture”. It is eight giant, now corroded, slabs of steel arranged in a near-triangle. The slabs are not curved, shaped, or in any way interesting, They’re just big steel panels. Here are two views: [ground level](http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/19eb5c35-f09e-4084-931d-ce7fe731f147.jpg); [aerial](http://bp0.blogger.com/_YCGKh3GjtVs/Rzd3NyyYXKI/AAAAAAAABCY/LrkhmO6esNg/s1600-h/4%3D%3D%3D.jpg). It is large, I will give it that. Looking at that actually makes me a little mad. For God’s sake, can’t you even make the boring, idiotic triangle EVEN?!? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789/80 "2008-11-18T19:02:40Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Looking at that actually makes me a little mad. For God’s sake, can’t you even make the boring, idiotic triangle EVEN?!? > :mad: Would a perfect triangle be more interesting? Would a perfect triangle be more intelligent? -FrL- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shockingly-ugly-public-art/472789.md?page=5)