Spirit Bears In The City; Big Bucks, An Excuse For Mediocre Public Art.
Friday, June 23, 2006 at 12:22PM This is in no way a complaint against the charities or artist involved. No one can argue that the fundraising created by this event is not going to a good cause.
All of this really started a few years ago in Zurich, Switzerland. It started with Cows On Parade, a city wide exhibition of painted fiberglass cows which made millions of dollars in tourist revenue for Zurich. Next thing you know, painted fiberglass cows started popping up elsewhere. Chicago decided to borrow the idea and had their own Cows On Parade and once again it was a real "cash cow" for the city.
Other cities jumped on the band wagon. Toronto had " Moose in the City", Seattle had pigs I think and a lot of other urban centres had a go at it. Some of them with cows, other with different animals. Last year it started here in Vancouver with "Orcas In The City"
Painted fiberglass orcas littered the city streets for the summer months and at the end of it the sculptures were auctioned off for charity. It was so successful that the city decided to have another go at it and this year we have "Spirit Bears In The City",(I just love these catchy original titles)
The only reason these things get put up is because they are a guaranteed money maker. Yes they make a lot of money for charities, and that's great, but it doesn't mean its good public art. I'm sure it was a fun public arts project when it started in Zurich, but when the dollars were added up in the end that's all that really mattered to all the other cities that decided to copy the idea. All the corporate sponsors can stand around and pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
Now Vancouver does have a lot of other public art. Right now the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale is on, but even without that there is a lot of public art that goes unseen. I happened to stumble on to some of it while looking for these fiberglass bears.
How about these sculptures/ public seating by artist Mowry Baden.
I found these down by Science World. Sorry I don't know who the artist is.
I found one of these sidewalk mosaics by artist Bruce Malther.
and last but not least, this little impromptu sculpture I found along false creek.
I found these without even really looking and I think it makes the artwork more special.
As a city do we really need to copy a tired idea that has been passed around and over used simply because it's guaranteed to make a buck? Vancouver is a city that in many ways, even though it's considered one of the best cities to live in in the world, is desperate to prove itself. Maybe its time to get past that insecurity.
Reader Comments (5)
That's funny you going on about the poor public art thing with these bears as I did the same thing on my blog last year with those damned Orcas! Personally, I think they are embarrassing for the city.
Also congrats on getting in the Button show. I was in the 2004 one and haven't made the deadline for the ones in the past two years now.
Just thought I'd drop in and say I still catch up on your blog.
Anyway thanks for stopping by.