The famous "Expose Yourself to Art" statue is gone! This lumpy square of asphalt is all that remains where Kvinneakt (that's her official name) once stood. They're going to tear up the transit mall for MAX construction next year, so it was time for her to go.
On the way home from work yesterday I saw the statue swaddled in a protective wrapper, sort of a bubblewrap burqa. I thought it'd make a good picture and resolved to come back today, but she was already gone. The city can move remarkably fast when it wants to.
I don't know where the statue's going from here. The late, lamented Soaring Stones outside Pioneer Place were handed back to the sculptor, and word is they'll likely end up in Seattle. Call me a cynic, but I have a funny feeling the lovely Ms. K. will put down roots in the Pearl, or maybe South Waterfront, or some other official gentrification zone; or maybe she'll end up in the private collection of a wealthy campaign contributor, or she'll just get lost in the warehouse, never to be seen again. It just stands to reason, the way things usually work out these days.
Turns out I had a picture of one of the Soaring Stones lying around, and here it is.
("Soaring Stones" would be a good name for a band, btw.)
Updated 12/27/07: If you look closely at the Soaring Stones photo, you'll see a couple of the transit mall's groovy old 70's bus shelters. Those are gone now too, and like the Soaring Stones, they're not coming back.
Also, this humble post has gotten linkage from Portland Public Art. Yay!
1 comment :
Interestingly, I was just in Salt Lake City, and saw this sculpture by Kazuo Matsubayashi: http://www.publicartinla.com/other_cities/slc/asteroid.html
I seriously thought that its might have been by the same artist as Soaring Stones, though of course the stone in the Salt Lake City piece is far loftier, and is made of some of their local-looking red rock (sandstone?) instead of our local-looking grey rock (granite?)
Anyway, I guess there's nothing new under the sun.
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