I'll kick it off with a few props for some things I like.
A PHILISTINE'S GUIDE TO CALGARY'S PUBLIC ART: THE BIG 3
Warning, Uninformed Crack-Pot Opinions about Art to Follow
Someone else can fill in the blanks about the whos, whens and whys with this stuff. That isn't where I wanna go. I just wanna talk about what the three pieces of public art that I think are a cut above in this city and why I like them.
This is the best piece of art in the city.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McElcheran
A lot of Calgary's art tends to be geometric, kind-of abstract, often monolithic and more than a little soulless. It doesn't help that a lot of it is the result of being mandatory and tied to a piece of infrastructure. It's as though it was erected just because who ever okay-ed it had hoped that it might not be offensive. We all know how that's gone recently.
The Conversation is exactly the opposite of all of that. It might not be a literal piece of statuary about someone specific, but it's definitely about something concrete. It's human... obviously. It's too roughly life sized guys having an engaging conversation. Best of all it invites you to join in. And may people have!
The unmistakable spots of polished bronze adorning it are testament to that fact.
On top of that, I think it's really managed to capture something about the spirit of the city. They're businessmen for one. If you're in downtown Calgary you're probably one too. But, their demeanor isn't overly stiff. They're getting into it about something. There's something a little shoot from the hip about it. Maybe they aren't even talking business? This is Calgary after all eh. They're probably talking about the Flames. ![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Shorter Guy: Can you believe Brouwer has 2 years left on contract!
Taller Guy: It's ok. He's probably gonna get bought out.
Boom! Nailed it taller guy.
Maybe in a few years it'll be thought of as our Mannenken Pis or Charging Bull. A world renown statue
synonymous with it's home city.
This is how I imagine
Wonderland came to be. A fancy business man walked up to his head of procurement and said, "We need an art." To which the head of procurement replied, "Can you give me anything to go on?" Then the fancy businessman said, "What do I look like? Picasso? Just make sure it's big enough to stick out in front of the building and won't get us in trouble. Oh and if you can, make it work with the budget make. But also it prestigious if you can. I wanna be able to show up those other fancy businessmen. You know the ones I mean."
From: https://www.thestar.com/entertainme...t_jaume_plensa_helps_calgary_come_of_age.html
Boom! A Spanish artist produces for us a large wireframe woman's head. Maybe it needs to sink into it's context a bit more before I really feel like it's a part of the city, but I really feel like it could be anywhere in the world and be equally enjoyable. That said, I like it. I'm glad we have it. I just wish I could climb on it and eat a sandwich where the cerebellum should be.
Yes yes yes... it's large and geometric and a little bit abstract. BUT HEY! My point isn't to rag on abstraction. It's just that when it's all you ever see you can't appreciate it. Wonderland is just for a lack of a better word...
better than the rest. It's a uselessly subjective opinion sure, but I think a lot of people would agree with me about it's inherent
betterness, especially with reference to most of the rest of the city's public art.
I never really knew downtown without
the Trees. They were built long before I became a
downtown office toiler. So I'll never know what the allegedly gusty pre-arborial Stephen Avenue was like. I've never had my fedora blown off down there, and as soon as I get one I never will either thanks to that lovely white canopy floating overhead. So, they're both functional and pleasing to the eye. They've got to be responsible for the only outwardly recognizable street-scape we have in the city. When the Globe or Post wants to do a business-y shot that screams business-y things about Calgary. The trees step up to the plate admirably.
From: http://www.calgarydowntown.com/saw/Stephen-avenue-info/stephen-avenue-galleria-trees.html
At first glance they go along with a lot of the things that I just said are wrong with Calgary's public art. They appear to large, geometric, soulless, mandatory and abstract. Sure they're geometric, but we aren't dealing with a floating blue ring, stack of bronze tubing or some overdone giant lettering. Me and a decent piece of math software can whip up a passable pile of crud like without much effort. That's hardly something we should be pumping as public art. But what appears to be geometric abstraction is actually intent. The Trees are engineered to do a job, disburse the wind. So what comes first, the art or public utility? I'd argue in them we have a happy marriage of both at once. A copse of gently swooping civil servants that admirably ape at their namesake in both pleasure and purpose. I mean this to sound endearing rather than snide, I can hardly think of anything less soulless than that when it comes to large heaps of steel.
Note! I had some trouble uploading pics of my own. So I grabbed some place holders from the random internets that I plan to swap out with my own this evening.
Lastly, I have an honourable mention set aside too. Ever since I was a kid I've always loved the 2 nuts and bolts guys at Bow Valley Square. I just found out that their names are "Sadko & Kabuki." I'll have to read up more on that.
They aren't there right now! ![Eek! :eek: :eek:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I hope they're just getting refurbished, but cause I'd hate to lose them! Get well soon fellas!
From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/volvob12b/38656828194
I hope you've had at least few good chuckles if you read this far. I look forward to seeing the things that you guys like about our art most of all. And hopefully, point out a few things I've never seen before!
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)