From The Scot
Seattle’s well-known for having some of the finest public art. And one of its more recent pieces of public art has turned out to be one of its most popular and most photographed – and it can be found right outside my apartment block on 4th and Blanchard!
It is, of course, Catherine Mayer’s awe-inspiring 17-foot steel and apoxy Giant Red Popsicle. “Whoever created this should be given the Nobel Prize for Awesomeness,” Belltown blogger Igor Keller wrote about the popsicle. “This is simply one of the greatest things ever made by human hands.” And I’ve lost count now of those amazed by it, as they whip out their iPhones to photograph it, usually preceded with the comment: “Oh. My. God. A giant popsicle!”
Mayer’s work is is all about first reactions, and she has been working to make multi-sensory art that inspires positive reactions in the form of murals, animations and sculptures. The popsicle was perfect. She had one particular popsicle in mind. It was red, like the ones she got as a kid from the ice cream guy in New Orleans. It had two sticks, not one, like the ones she could split to share half with her brother.
John,
With all due respect,. I do not think that Seattle is well known for fine pubic art ands if we are at all, the art that attracts attention is not this sort of thing.
Seattle does have some public pieces worthy of a lot of attention … the Troll. waiting for the interurban, the peace origami girl, the fifth avenue Calder, Marvin Oliver’s Eagle at Children’s hospital, Bill Hom’s whales and the magnificent Steve Hol Chapel at Seattle University.
Then there is stuff like this, gimmicky and forgettable … in the tradition of the Hammering Man.